Abyss
by Zombie-onigiri
Summary: I wasn't one to look in a gift horse mouth, thus when I received a second chance in the form of reincarnation... well I took it without looking back. Especially after I realized that I had something, or more like someone, to live for again. SIOC/OC-insert, twin-fic. Hiatus/Re-writing.
1. For life and death are one

This is SIOC/OC-reincarnation and twin fic.

 **Alternative summary:** "... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you" by Friedrich Nietzsche. So what, mister Nietzsche, should I do when I constantly carry the abyss within me?

\- Or more like something that was used as summary before. It still could be used, but as I am moving at much slower pace than I first estimated, I figured that I should change summary to something that it is more... actual?

 **Warning:** There is swearing throughout the whole fic (a lot), character death in first chapter, violence and questionable morals in later chapters. OC is not your typical goody two-shoes and the fic will reflect that.

I follow manga so those that only watched anime should be prepared for spoilers (though not much - I am waaay behind the manga now).

Also, my grammar is shit, just saying.

 **Beta** \- my loyal helper and idea-bouncer **OTrizy**. Check out her profile when you have time, too~-

 _ **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from anime/manga My Hero Academia. I only own my OC and even SIOC/reincarnation idea is so overused, that I can't say that this idea is mine, either._

The image of this fiction was made by me on a bebinator*com site.

* * *

 _Quote: For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. - Khalil Gibran_

* * *

 _Pain._

The widely used definition of pain is: _"It's an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage."_

Now, I didn't really care about things like 'potential tissue damage' and other nice sounding complex words. I wasn't really smart type, mind you. However, what I cared about ( _more like what I knew from my own experience_ ) was: it sucked as hell to be wounded. Enough said.

Sure, some could get used to it if they were hurt often. That didn't mean that it was pleasant ( _or healthy)_ to get your 'tissues damaged'. I was not a person who was fond of pain ( _I am not a masochist, thank you very much_ ) I tried to avoid situations that would result in me getting hurt... And failed again and again and again.

Well, in my defense, it wasn't entirely _my_ fault that I ended up going home all torn up every third day. Blame my occupation and stupid people who refuse to learn from their mistakes.

What occupation, you might ask... Well, I suppose a lot of people would frown upon this job. I probably would too if I had a chance to live normal life. But well, I guess that was impossible from the start with my trouble-making ways.

Shit happened and I went down the bad road and somehow became involved with the worst crowd possible (... _but it's not like I lived saint life before that_ ). I did various odd jobs for several years until I settled on the courier job.  
You want someone to transport something from one place to the other? I am your woman, just call me. Be it expensive goods, drugs, money, people or even corpses. I didn't really care _(well I minded corpses a little - do you know how long their stench stays in the car? Very long_ ) and I didn't ask questions.

I didn't hate my job. I was actually quite satisfied with it, because I've always liked cars. I've wanted to become mechanic... but that became impossible after having a criminal record. Driving one also felt extremely fulfilling. Salary was good too as my clients didn't mind paying a hefty sum in exchange for my silence. Even after giving half of my earned money to my… let's say, protector, I still lived in luxury with what I had left.

There were downsides, of course. The Police was one of them, I can't count how many times my lawyer had to get my ass out of the mess I got it into, luckily I've never spent in jail more than a week... except the first time.

The other, more dangerous and more… sensitive downside was when somebody decided that he wanted something I was transporting. They ignored that I was under the protection of a very influential person who could destroy them with one glance. They were so very stupid to think they can do this without him knowing, or maybe they were just actively suicidal?

Fast chases that ensued throughout the whole country as I tried to shake them off ( _sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't_ ) were certainly entertaining… right until fun ended in the situation where I was surrounded by enemy's cars and the only action that was left to do was the direct confrontation. What followed was ugly, bloody and most of the time it left me in very bad shape, but surprisingly not dead.

However, as they say: luck eventually runs out… and I was currently experiencing this saying.

I was transporting some fancy paintings. I've never been into arts therefore I didn't know how much they were worth, probably a hefty sum considering how many people were willing to put themselves against me. I was no pushover, people who underestimated me in the past because of my gender… let's say, they weren't able to do that mistake ever again.

I had it under control. It wasn't that different from all those assaults in the past. Just one guy with brain hiding behind the mass of muscle brained thugs. The only difference this time was that somebody heard the ruckus we were making and probably was too curious for his own good, therefore, he had to _go_ and look what was going on.

I… panicked you could say. I hated it when innocent people died just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It reminded me of how I ended up where I was and more importantly of my dead best friend. I've killed people in the past, but never without reason. I may be criminal but even I had lines that I didn't cross, no matter what.

So, yeah. I lost my focus when I saw that one of those brainless men started to run with a knife in hand at the fear-stricken man. Without thinking I lunged at the running male, ignoring other assailants. I jammed my small knife into his exposed neck ( _who the hell turns his back on his enemy?_!) and glanced with the corner of my eyes at the stupid guy who, fortunately, already managed to shake off his stupor. He turned on the spot and ran away with frightened scream. Well… points to him for running away so quickly, at least his survival instincts were working properly now.

However, I was so engrossed in the fact that I did something good for once that I forgot about my enemy… stupid, novice mistake, I know. I am so ashamed of myself now ( _again, who the hell turns his back on his enemy?!_ ).

 _And here I was._

Lying in a puddle of my own blood and waiting for death to come. Without fancy paintings I was transporting, without my lovely brown car, without my wallet with pizza's coupons... Hell, there was practically nothing here except corpses - so not very good company.

Well… there was one other thing that was accompanying me in my last moments… It was thing that started all this flash-backing.

 _Pain._

Geeze… couldn't I be free of it in my last moments? Was it really so important for death to be so painful? I was already so, so cold. Wasn't that enough?

I suppose now was time to reminisce... Maybe some kind of 'life flashing before my eyes' moment? Well, I already kind of did that seconds ago, but I didn't go over the most important years.

I didn't have a lot of happy memories, my 'friends' and 'family' abandoned me when I ended in jail. At that time it hurt, I did what was right. Okay, I admit that burning down house is bad, but nobody died ( _certainly not because of the lack of effort on my side, mind you, that fucker deserved to die_ ) and everyone _knew_ that it was that bastard's fault that **he** died, so _what the fuck_?!. Anyway, I did what was right, but everybody told me that _I_ was in the wrong and that _I_ deserved to be punished.

I hated it. I hated them. I hated myself. I hated my life. I _hatedhatedhated_. And in the end, I became a cold-hearted killer who only cared about money.

Then, I saw that guy, accidentally stumbling upon our fight and it was so similar to how my friend died, that I... Well.

You see, my best friend.. he was like a little brother to me, no, that didn't describe fully how I felt towards him. I loved him, not in romantic sense, no way, eww, that just- _wrong._ I just felt like... like he was my whole life.

He was an incredible person. He stretched his hand towards me (quite literally) and brightened my dull life in a way I thought was impossible before and made me see other colors than just black and white. Memories of those years spent with him continued to give me strength to live on even after his death.

Maybe, if I didn't have so much blood on my hands I would be able to meet him again, on the other side. But as it was… It was not possible.

Yes… yes… It was impossible. Because he was like the sun who continued to color my monochrome filled days. When he smiled you could just imagine a meadow filled with flowers. He was not tainted even when he saw an ugly side of the world; no, instead he wanted to _change_ it... He was definitely up there if something akin to heaven existed.

And… I was a monster that wanted to thrive in his light. I was an abyss that wanted to swallow him so that only I could see his glow. I belonged all the way down, into the hell. To forever repent for the things I did. To be miles away from him, so my blood-covered hands could never reach him.

I chuckled wetly at my train of thought. I was becoming quite a poet in my last moments of life, maybe I should have became a writer instead? I bared my teeth in parody of a smile, blood slipping through my clenched teeth and sliding down my chin to join a rapidly expanding puddle under and around me.

The thought of meeting him again was quite ridiculous. His family loved him, his friends loved him, hell even his pets loved him. Surely he was with them now. There wasn't any place left for me beside him.

A short sigh escaped me as I noted my slowly darkening vision. Sure sign that I was seconds away from unconsciousness and in this case it meant my death was nearing, too. Huh, so the Grim Reaper won't honor me of his visit, eh? As my vision continued to darken I thought about what to say. Because, hey, these were my last words, I had to make sure that they were at least memorable if nothing else, even though there was nobody to hear them.

As seconds ticked away and nothing came to mind, my brain, that was probably becoming bored with my slow thinking, decided to play a game with me and started to create an illusion of the person I wanted to see the most.

He was blurry, with a face surrounded by white light, but I _knew_ who he was. I recognized his cheerful and vibrant presence.

I read somewhere that just before death, a massive amount of hallucinogenic chemicals are released, if that's what was causing the image then damn, they were doing one hell of a good job.

The illusion of my dead best friend walked over to me and when he was at the arm's length, he stretched his hand to my laying form, as if intending to help me up… It felt nostalgic. Just like old times, huh?

Aaah… I knew now what I will say. It was something that I wanted for so many years...

' _My last words…_ ,' I thought as I collected all of my remaining strength, concentrating it into one point of my body – my hand.

I slowly lifted my deathly pale limb and moved it in the direction of my brain's illusion. I was reaching for the hand, knowing there was nothing here but desperately needing some sort of comfort. I could lie to myself all I wanted and say that I wasn't scared of anything, _especially_ death. But the truth was… I was scared. _I was fucking scared._

' _My last words will be…_ '

I smiled despite tremors wracking my body, making my raised hand wobble in the air. Despite tears on my face that started to fall without me knowing. Despite coldness lazily striding through my veins, instead of the warm blood that now lied on the ground.

Because, for just a moment, it felt like the hand of the ghost above me was real, as if he really came to welcome me. And suddenly I wasn't scared so much anymore.

"Can I see your smile one more time?"

Through my hazy vision, I saw that for a moment, his face stopped to be obstructed by light and I was finally able to see his beautiful, beautiful smile. Content, I closed my eyes fully and breathed out my final breath. Hand falling down lifelessly.

* * *

The end~

I tried to go back and fix this chapter again, hopefully it's better now.


	2. When you came you cried

This chapter was fixed by my wonderful beta **OTrizy**.

 _Quote: "When you came you cried and everybody smiled with joy; when you go smile and let the world cry for you." - Rabindranath Tagore_

* * *

 _'This feels so weird...'_ I thought, blinking hard to clear my blurred sight. This action didn't help and so I closed my eyes in resignation to use my other other senses.

I became even more confused.

From what I gathered, I was lying on a squashy mat in a pleasantly smelling room; the scent was flower-like. The room was fairly quiet, disturbed only by a melody made ny some kind of music box. However, if I were to concentrate enough I could hear breathing sounds coming from the right. The maker of those was probably the baby I heard crying a few hours ago... and dreadfully enough joined him in his endeavors to destroy eardrums of whoever was present to listen to us.

After that, ehm, _episode_ , I slept for who knows how long and when I next came to, I was lying in this room, wondering if it was possible to die of embarrassment. And I couldn't see shit, what the hell was wrong with my sight?

Additionally I didn't have the slightest idea of what happened with me before - I was rather a quiet crier, making sounds only when I was under the effect of a strong booze and even then I only sniffled. Crying loudly was very out of character for me.

Let's see... at that time there was a mess of thoughts swimming inside of my head, making me feel the mother of every a damn headache I've ever felt and that's counting all those damn hangovers, which wow what a feat. And as if that wasn't enough, my body felt weird. I felt too disoriented and dazed. There was this unbearable ache and feelings of loss... so when I heard cry of the child, I just... joined.

I guess I just overreacted? Geez, so lame.

Uhhh. Okey, I am just gonna forget that and move on more pressing matter.

The main problems is that I was currently in a unknown location, with some random child of uncertain age, and with no damn idea of _how_ the fuck I got here. Oh, and of course I can't forget that there are some creepy giants here also, as if the situation wasn't complicated enough.

What was I doing before I woke up here? I think I was chased by some crazy bastards who didn't know when to give up and then I was cornered. Did they somehow defeated me, made me unconscious and drug me to the point that I was feeling like a human in the giant's care? Was that it? If yes, then... sure, I could work with that.

But what about the baby? It has to be a baby; it's cries were too high for it to be an older child. Did they plan to get information from me using that baby as some kind of bargain piece? Maaaan, that would be really fucked up. The baby was in no relation to me, of that I was pretty certain, but even if I had reputation of a heartless bitch, I still wouldn't be able to just look as they killed it in front of me or something. It was just an innocent baby...

It would be stupid and meaningless as well, considering that I didn't knew a lot of secret stuff. I wasn't a social butterfly – I had a few acquaintances sure, but they weren't too fond of me. I was told repeatedly that I am quite rude and inconsiderate person.  
And my profession required of me 'Do not ask more than you need to' rule. If I somehow managed to overheard something I made damn sure to forget it quickly – I was the firm supporter of the opinion 'if it doesn't involve you, don't fucking stick your nose into it'. Oh, and I had bad memory in general too. I had good short memory I guess, but not long.

So yeah, I was useless outside of the driver seat, but I digress.

The confusion was slowly being sipped away by frustration. Thinking about what happened before, lead me to nothing but more questions... and really, my head was starting to hurt just by thinking about all these bizarre explanations for the mess I was in. Better to just observe and gradually unravel the mystery on the run. Winging it was always the best fall back strategy for me.

Nonetheless, there was still a little detail that I seriously wanted to figure out.

And that was... what's wrong with my eyes?! I've never needed glasses before, but now it felt as if I really, really needed some damn strong ones. Everything was blurred badly. It was very uncomfortable feeling, especially because my job heavily depended on my sight. I dearly hoped that they didn't permanently mess up my sight... livid me was not a nice person. Or particularly forgiving.

I glared at the air in front of me. The only thing I could somewhat see were blurred wooden bars surrounding me on all sides. Kind of like a cage... or a crib. The image of my grown-up self-trying to squash into the crib designated for small babies conjured a small, amused smirk on my face. Then I involuntary yawned as sleepiness washed over me.

The last thought floating through my mind before I was lulled into the dreamland by the lullaby-like melody, was: ' _How come that I feel so awkward and uncomfortable_ _in my body_ _? Is that really the drug's effect, or so…me…thing…'_

xXxXxXx

Okay, this was getting more and more ridiculous as days went on. I already spent there _at least_ a month and I wasn't getting any closer to finding out what the hell was going on. And my situation was gradually getting worse.

The baby, who was still somewhere to my right, was currently happily cooing some nonsense to himself/herself. It was probably meant to be satisfied sounds because the giant-woman fed us moments ago. Yes, fed us.

My vision was still not at its best ( _small mercy that_ ) but I was starting to see better and… and I wished I didn't. Just, just what the hell?! Was this... the feeding... was that some kind of torture? Because it was indeed mortifying and, and totally appalling! And I am not ever gonna open that can of worms called _diapers_. If they wanted to make me go crazy then good job, it was working.

And the worst thing was... even as I gradually descended into madness, I was slowly starting to feel comfortable and safe around those two giants. Those calm murmurs in that weird language of theirs... it felt nice.

I can't pinpoint, exactly, when the suspicion and fear changed into these feelings of safety and acceptance, it just happened somewhere between me waking up here and the day I realized I looked towards those daily visits that saved me from the boredom as I wasn't able to do anything except lying in one place all day except of those visit times. It was terrifying realization, because I didn't do trust. And they were my _kidnappers_ as well _._.. Stockholm syndrome, maybe?

Crazy, crazy... I was going crazy.

My nightmares didn't help I bet, true those were normal occurrence _before,_ but just as small inconveniences. However now I spend most of my time sleeping, they were becoming a serious problem. And it wasn't only about those horrid dreams, because I got used to death over the years and so whoever died sure had it bad, but I didn't care much... The worst was waking up. When I woke up from those dreams, I feel intangible pain all over my body accompanied by crippling cold and I felt _scared_. It was abnormal, that was for certain...

My train of thought was interrupted when the female giant entered. I wanted to glare, I wanted to yell at her to go away, but as always, neither of those wants could be accomplished. Partly because the urges to do so weakened as days went on and also thanks to my inability to speak or even properly focus on one point with my eyes. Thanks inability, my situation is just fabulous.

I narrowed my eyes in the general direction of the woman, mustering my most intimidating grimace while doing so and as if she felt my gaze, she turned towards me. She paused on the spot and just stared at me, standing completely still. Heh, I guess I still could be scary if I-

She gleefully _squealed_.

Wait, what...?

Gibberish rushed out of her mouth as she ran up to me. I was caught off guard by the fast move and her reaction to _my_ scary face, therefore I didn't register her face few inches from mine until after few seconds passed. And when I finally did, I embarrassingly enough jumped ( _or more like did a whole body twitch)_ with a squeak and I tried to run... or hide before she decided to eat me or something. However, instead of eating me the giant squashed me against her chest and babbled some more nonsense in her weird language.

Again, _what_.

She then ran out with me, only stopping for a bit to look over her shoulder at my baby-friend as if checking if he was alright. To where? I didn't know, but I was _excited_. This was my chance. I could finally gather some crucial information.

As she stopped in the hall of the house and loudly called for someone I discreetly looked around for clues. Though, I instantly stopped my search when I landed my eyes on a mirror that was few centimeters from me. It was an ordinary mirror that you could see in the hall of every household, but it caught my attention, because I needed to see how I looked after weeks of the imprisonment.

Thus I trained my bad eyesight at the mirror. What I saw in there made my head spin and my thoughts came to a rough halt. The image was blurry, my sight was still bad after all, but it was recognizable enough that I could see two adults talking with each other, standing in the homely decorated hallway. In the arms of the woman was a tiny little bundle. That bundle...

I was somehow distantly aware that the female of the pair stopped talking and was instead looking at me questioningly. Her tone was full of concern as she babbled to me. I didn't pay her any attention as I was too preoccupied with the image in front of me.

That bundle was me... and... and... Why the fuck was I a _freaking baby?!_

xXxXxXx

I didn't know what happened after that as I proceeded to freak the fuck out in my mind, completely stopping all interactions with the outside world. I usually wasn't one to have mental breakdowns, but surely becoming a _baby_ ( _that didn't look like me at all, at that_ ) deserved some kind of freak out, right?

If not and there was some kind of calm, default reaction for this... _this_ , then I sure as hell wanted to know what it was. Right about now. Gimme points on how to properly handle suddenly becoming a baby. I will be waiting!

.. And I may be losing it a little in the meantime.

After who knows how long I somehow managed to get my shit together and go out of my head... to the sight of a doctor towering over me and pointing light-stick into my eyes, blinding me. Understandingly I did another body-twitch in shock and then rewarded him with my deadliest glare and angry garble - it was supposed to be something along the lines of 'fuck off' but sadly my mouth's muscles didn't agree with me on this one. Again.

He looked startled for a moment but thankfully took the point and stopped his efforts in completely blinding me. Instead, he turned with a frown to the right and started speaking with somebody.

I stayed silent and listened to them. I could deduce that he was speaking to two people, I couldn't see them in my peripheral vision and turning my head would need too much effort. One of them (male) was actively engaged in a conversation with the doctor., other (female) was making odd muffled sounds that suspiciously resembled sobbing.

Further inspections of the voices made me realize that they belonged to those two giants... who actually weren't giants at all, and it was just me who has shrunk.

Were they... Were they supposed to be caretakers of this body? Parents? Or, or something...? What the fuck happened to my _old_ body?! Was this some kind of an experiment?

Wait. Those nightmares...

Now, I've never been the sharpest crayon in the box, but even I could put two and two together.

If, and only if, what happened in those nightmares was real and if the person who died _was_ me... and now I was in the body of some random child. Did that mean that I died and... and... somehow, in some crazy way, managed to get reincarnated?

Now my beliefs about the 'other side' were sketchy at best. I was realist, bordering on pessimist by nature who didn't believe in an afterlife and gods but... I've probably became a living proof of the theory that there _was_ a life after death and that you only changed body to continue... this was really forcing me to rethink my opinions.

...

I needed more time, _alone time_ , to fully digest this.

Besides I shouldn't be distracted now when I was under the watch of the doctor, who I really didn't want to have prolonged interest in me. I disliked curious doctors who wouldn't mind their damn business and ask useless questions.

Keep your calm. Deep breath. Slooowly release it. Okay. I am and will be okay. I can do this. Just wing it as always.

I tuned my attention back to the conversation in the room. Without my notice, all three of adults moved from their spots to stand around me in a half-circle and were now looking down at me. Because they were leaning so close to me, I took this chance to examine the other two with my blurred sight as I didn't observe them closely before, quite dumb when I think about it now.

The woman, who I saw the most in my time spent in the crib _(yeah, I was really sleeping in the crib. Okay. Okay. Great... don't think about it_ ) was of a slim build and was smaller than the other two adults, which was even more pronounced by her leaning onto her husband(?) so much. She was probably quite a beauty with her big green eyes, small nose and her long black hair done in a side bun. Eh, wait, her hair weren't black... but dark green? ... not even commenting on that. This situation was bizarre enough. Totally not surprised by that color. Toootally

The man, on the other hand, looked completely average. He was tall but not overly so and his body structure was more on a thin side. He wore black square glasses that obstructed his brown eyes. His cheeks were adorned by sprays of freckles that stretched even over his nose. His bland face was surrounded by straight light brown hair that ended at his chin.

They immediately noticed that I was giving them my full attention and their grave expressions brightened and turned into relieved ones.

Were they scared of a well being of this body? They were probably this body's... parents. Haaa, _this_ was so complicated. Was I supposed to treat them as my parents now? It wasn't like I wanted to cling to parents of my... previous life. God no, I didn't care about those sorry excuses of parents. It was just.. the thought of _complete strangers_ playing a very big part in my second chance at life and not having a choice in deciding if I _let_ them play... it wasn't very appealing.

I was a very distrustful person. I was like that from a very young age as far as I can remember there was no point in my life where I wasn't. Part of it came from my family and other from the neighborhood I grew up in. And probably something in me as well. I started to be a little more open-minded when I met my best friend but then he died ( _it still_ hurt _, so, much, even after so many years_ ) and the prison thing happened, then having the lifestyle I had... yeah very distrustful person there.

Don't take me wrong, being overly careful wasn't a bad quality to have, exactly the opposite actually, as it helped me survive as long as I had. However in this situation, where I would need to put my trust into these strangers and to believe that they will take good care of my small body... Well, it was certainly a problem I will have to dealt with if this was a real thing now... this second chance ( _what did I even did to deserve it? I wonder...)_

For now I will try to play a role of ordinary baby to the best of my abilities and in the meantime I will observe and evaluate those two until I'll find every important thing I could and after that... well after that, we will see.

My thoughts may be a little cold but I was giving them a chance at least. Not a lot of people got that from me. And really... I was quite nice now in comparison to all those other times I was cornered. I have a very nasty temper when I feel threatened. I was acting calmer now, probably because I was still in shock from all these revelations... and maybe because I was a little curious about the other child.

He/she was my sibling... right?

My feelings about him/her were an interesting tangle of longing, sadness, and curiosity.

I was an only child in the past, but I had my best friend who took the role of younger sibling very well. He was someone I always had to look after because he was bound to get into trouble without me ( _not that I didn't get into troubles myself, but I knew how to get out of them_ ). He was a handful, quite exasperating sometimes, but I guess that made our bond so much real and important. Because somebody needed me as a person and not for what I was able to do.

I... maybe I could have that again? I didn't know what gender the child was. And it wasn't like somebody could replace _him_ , but I...

I didn't know what to feel. I didn't know what to do. _I didn't know what I was supposed to feel and do._

I knew one thing for sure though; this time I wouldn't let death steal anybody from me.

xXxXxXx

 _'Sooooo bored...'_

After we came back from the hospital, things returned back to normal. I slept. I ate. I... I think I didn't have to say what other thing I did. Bloody hell, diapers were so uncomfortable, especially when they were full. I've even stopped to feel embarrassed for being loud crier after few days because full diapers SUCKED.

My program when I was awake consisted of lying in my crib and looking at the wall, sometimes I managed to flip over and lie on the stomach and then proceeding to glare at the pillow - not entirely throughout I admit.

And that was it.

If somebody ever wondered if it was possible to die of boredom... I think I will soon prove that yes, _it was fucking possible_.

I didn't even see the other baby yet - okay, that was an exaggeration I saw some of him/her but it was only short glimpses that didn't tell me much about him/her. Or about the gender at the least.

Oh! And before I forget... I had my own toy too. It was a brown plush bear with a yellow ribbon around its neck. I decided to name it Mr. Bear... okay, I have horrendous naming sense, however in my defense I didn't really need it before.

A-anyway! What was I talking about? Boredom! Yeah.

The life of a baby ( _yes baby, I was a baby, reincarnation was a thing, still not fully over that fac_ t) was mind-numbing. Nothing happened and because of that, I was left alone with my depressive thoughts and boredom. Truly excellent companions... can you feel my sincerity? No? Me neither.

As if summoned by my bored state, a woman entered our room. It was our... mother. Still weird to call her that, but I guess she was starting to rub on me... a little. Her smile was an incredible little thing, so sincere and bright. It felt nice to have something like that directed at me. And her eyes were so expressive and full of love. Actually her whole being expressed just how much joy my _pure_ _existence_ brought to her. And... not gonna lie, it felt _fucking good_ to be wanted. I didn't feel so appreciated in over a decade. She slowly, bit by bit continued to bypass my shields and I didn't even mind.

On the other hand her husband... I still wasn't finished with his evaluation. On one side I knew that he loved his family, that was too easy to see. However over past months, he started to appear less and less and today it was a full week since I last saw him. In his visits, he had a smile on his face too, however it was absentminded and wistful kind. It felt like he was looking at me through the transparent wall, like there was an obstacle between me and him. After his departure from our room, I always felt torn up between this body's instinct to cry when feeling uncomfortable and my own frustration at not being able to read the man fully.

Back to our mother though, like always she went to see my sibling first as he/she was the fussier one out of the two of us. Then after she got the usual happy gurgling sound in response, she reached into the crib to lift him/her into her arms.

I observed her movements with keen eyes. Taking in the way she carefully but firmly held her child, how her smile widened just a tiny bit when she was lightly slapped by the little being in her arms, how she made sure to spoke slowly, even though it was impossible for my sibling to understand her.

Involuntarily I felt the fond feeling in my chest to grow. Did I mind? I couldn't say yes to that... not when I was waiting so eagerly for her to pick me up next. Geez, this was cheating... but you know what? I give up, her cheat-ability was too great.

I hummed a bit to draw attention to myself. I got bright smile as a reward and pat on the head.

She started to speak to both of us now. Still in the same slow pace and calming tone and as I somewhat started to perceive and distinguish words spoken to me during past months I deciphered a little of what she told us.

There was my name for one. Kou-chan. I didn't know what the meaning of the name was but I planned to find out. It sounded quite nice, definitely better than my old one. Other words I was somewhat able to identify were 'sleep', 'play', 'good' and my sibling's name that was Izuku-chan.

Soo... something about playing and being good? As if I always didn't do that. I was good in being a good baby. Scarily good, maybe this was my other talent in this life beside being a drama-queen? Should I become an actor in this life?

Wait, why was she going away?

With me thinking about my new talents and about the ways I could utilize them, I didn't notice her slowly moving away and out of my sight until she nearly slipped from my peripheral vision.

I grunted, confused by her action. This never happened before... But I wasn't about to complain as this was the event I was waiting for, something new was happening to alleviate me of my boredom.

I turned my head to the right to see her when I lost her from my sight completely. She went all the way to the corner of the room and crouched next to some kind of... rubber barricade? Why did I never noticed THAT before? It couldn't be overlooked with its bright green color. Shit, I seriously needed to practice these body's observation ability, it sucked.

After doing there what she wanted ( _putting my sibling in there_ ) she swiftly rose and with cheerful attitude walked over to me and picked me up. Then she walked over to the barricade and dumped me in there, next to my sibling.

I blinked few times to shook out the shock that came with such a sudden change of scenery. Once done with that I looked around me. We were in some kind of mini playground. There were small plastic balloons, jigsaw puzzles, wooden blocks and similar things. The 'playground' was fenced by thick green rubber walls on all sides.

Suddenly something fell between me and the other child. Further examination of the objects identified them as two plush toys. One of them was my brown bear; the other one was a gray bear with a white-green checkered ribbon around its neck. I frowned, how did their mother get them so fast...

I lifted my eyes from the two toys to land them on the baby sitting next to me... no, we were already nearly toddlers from the looks of it. Was I there for so long already? That was... crazy, stunning and incredible fact. I was seriously awed by my ability to stay alive and not dying of boredom.

We still didn't have our first birthday though, that would truly be my first milestone in this life.

Tilting my head, I started to examine the little person in front of me. Looking at his blue overall, I finally discovered the gender of my sibling. I had a brother.

I felt happy, but at the same time, I did not. Was I even making a sense?

His appearance was similar to our mother's, the only thing that I could see he had from father was little sprays of freckles on his cheeks. Though one thing was certainly a surprising addition to the appearance of my brother. It was a curliness of his green hair and again I will not comment on the color, nothing can surprise me anymore. Those curls.. even though they were still relatively short they were already sticking out into all directions. I was curious from whom he obtained his... interesting hair. It was probably from our grandparents or something.

As if sensing my stare he looked at me too, his green eyes started to assess me with child's curiosity. I tried to send him a small smile, but as it was so long ago since I last tried to smile (and not once in this body) it came out stiffer and probably scarier than I intended. Considering his reaction? Definitely scarier.

His eyes widened with some emotion I couldn't distinguish ( _children were weird with their emotions_ ) and his chin started to tremble. I quickly recognized signs he was showing and with growing trepidation I clumsily reached for the bear I guessed as his. With it in hand I stretched my limb towards him, the plush holding same importance as a peace offering would.

His gaze traveled from my nervous expression to the toy held in my hand and back at my expression as he took all of me in. He looked unsure for a moment, however in the end he decided to hesitantly reach for the offering.

I was absently aware that our mother somehow obtained a camera without moving away and now was busy taking photos of us and making happy squeals.

As our hands touched, both of us holding the gray toy on the opposite ends, I felt this unusual feeling of familiarity. It strangely reminded me of the moment when I was dying and seeing an illusion of my dead friend. I lifted my gaze from the toy we were clutching and looked at my brother. Really looked at him. I hungrily took in all of those little details on his face from his small nose to freckles that adorned his cheeks.

For what I was _not_ ready and what hit me with a power of moving truck was a moment when smile started to bloom on his face. It lighted his face in a way that I only saw on one person. That smile, that smile was awfully similar as _his_.

No... it wasn't only the smile... the feelings it gave off were similar too.

I was unprepared. Unprepared to see those resemblances. Unprepared for the onslaught of suppressed memories, both sad and happy.

Because of my unpreparedness, uncontrolled emotions exploded in me. Big chaotic fireworks were blowing in my head creating a nonsensical clump of memories that came from my first and second life. Two smiling faces were entangling into one and creating a new image - however, this process caused face on the image become warped and distorted.

I dropped the plush and instead of it clutched the front of my yellow T-shirt. My insides were clenching painfully and my breaths were coming out in short shallow puffs. I was aware, that I was going into a panic attack, I experienced a good number of them before. But truth be told... I didn't care.

I didn't care that I could die again if I didn't calm down and continued like this.

I didn't care that my mother was anxiously fretting in place, sobbing into her phone and probably on a verge of panic attack herself ( _the truth is that I cared but not enough to calm down)._

I didn't care that I was scaring and probably traumatizing my brother and that-

...

Wait.

...

No, that was wrong. That was so so _wrong_. He shouldn't be scared of me. He shouldn't. It.. it... he was my brother, wasn't he? He shouldn't.

My breath was still irregular and my heartbeat probably too, but instead of drowning in my thoughts I was now focused on the face in front of me. He looked terrified. His eyes expanded to the largest size possible and his mouth, that was just seconds ago stretched into a beautiful smile, had now collapsed into a tight grimace.

For a second everything was silent. Even our mother's anxious sobbing stopped.

And then we both started bawling. Big pear-like tears were rolling from our clenched eyes, snot running out of our noses and cries sharply rupturing the previous silence in the room.

One cry was that of the scared child calling for his mother. The other was anguished wailing of a confused child-adult.

* * *

Aaaand END~!

So... did you like it? Was it too confusing? Too fast? Well, if this was fast/confusing for you, just wait for chapter 10. _That_ is a fast-paced chapter.

OC's name is **Kou,** with writing like this 光 which means "light, ray,".


	3. The greatest gift

I am stuck, so I am fixing my old chapters, hopefully they will be better now. Buuut... I still have problems with past/present tenses, so sorry for that.

 **Beta:** **OTrizy**.

 _Quote: "The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance." - Brian Tracy._

* * *

 _It was a cold day. Winter was already at the doorsteps and all town people restlessly awaited its arrival._

 _Streets were crowded with thickly clothed people. They were hastily moving through narrow sidewalks, not looking at each other even if they bumped into someone._

 _With everyone only focusing on reaching their destinations, nobody paid attention to a lightly dressed child expertly weaving its way through the mass of moving bodies._ _The child couldn't have been older than ten years and with the way she was dressed (plain blue faded out hoodie, worn out black trousers and boots that were so overused that toes were sticking out), more observant onlooker would be appalled by the thought that some parents would let their child go out into the cold so lightly dressed._

 _But alas nobody took time to slow down and actually observe what was happening around them._

 _The young girl had an unreadable expression on her face. Her small fists tightly clenched at her sides and puffs of cold air escaping her mouth as she continued her run, most of time avoiding being trampled by rushing people just in a nick of time._

 _After few minutes she finally escaped the crowd and made her way into a rarely visited park at outskirts of the town._ _She stopped next to small, withered bench its once beautiful black color was now chipped and faded. She put her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath after the mad dash, her breathing frantic as she tried to get in enough air._

 _Once her breathing calmed down, she stiffened and stayed in her position for a few more seconds. Then she abruptly straightened and moved her hands into her mane of hair and proceeded to roughly pull at her dirty blond strands as she started to scream at the darkening sky. Her yell frustrated and bitter._

 _However the shout won't be enough to calm her down. She snapped her mouth shut and with gritted teeth walked over the old bench and started to kick into its wood._

 _"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" she commenced her yelling anew. It started to resemble word now. Swearing word but a word nonetheless. Angry tears were going down her face as she continued to mutilate the object in front of her._

 _"Stop it!"_

 _Weak but determined shout got her to pause and she slowly turned her head around to look at a culprit. Her eyes landed on a small child dressed in a pale blue coat, green jeans, dark boots and neon green hat. His clothes looked new and clean. Star contrast with the worn out and dirty clothes of the girl. She immediately noticed that fact and something flashed in her eyes before it vanished, replaced by the enraged look from before._

 _"What was that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, daring him to repeat his words._

 _"I-I…" he stammered out, clearly intimidated by her glare. Then he took a deep breath and nodded to himself, then he cleared his throat and spoke again._

 _"I said stop it! Destroying things is bad!"_

 _She looked startled for a moment, not a lot of kids could stand being stared down by her. N_ _onetheless, she recovered soon and_ _smile appeared on her face. It wasn't nice smile though; it was a snide smirk that clearly showed her amusement at his words._

 _"Oh? Aren't you just the cutest little boy? And what would you do if I didn't stop? Would you tell your mommy?"_

 _He spluttered, not expecting her response. He looked lost for a few seconds as if he was searching for words and being unable to find them. In the end, he squeezed his eyes and yelled assuredly at her._

 _"I am not a little boy! I am already nine years old... And and... I will not go to my mama! I will deal with you on my own! Daddy always says that men are supposed to be brave and that they solve their problems themselves, without help! So! So...!" he trailed off._

 _Curious about what he had to say the girl decided to turn around fully._

 _'How amusing... Does he plan to fight with me? Judging from his weak-looking appearance he has never fought before. It will be fun to destroy his confidence.'_

 _Spreading her legs apart and firmly placing them into the ready position she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with confident smirk, daring him to continue his sentence. She quite enjoyed the way blood drained from his face and his expression turned into the "oh shit" one._

 _"Sooo?"_

 _He stiffened as he tried to come up with something. He tried to ignore the scary smile on the girl's face as he thought about his next move. His gaze fell on the mutilated bench and his determination came back full force._

 _"So I will occupy you! And you will not have time to do bad things!"_

 _"...What? Occupy me?" His answer threw her for a loop and she blinked few times to collect herself. What did he mean by "occupying"?_

 _"Yeah! I will play with you!"_

 _"...Play?" This time she was the one sounding lost as if she didn't quite know what that word meant. Her eyes reflecting her confusion as she stared at the small boy before her._

 _The boy didn't say anything because he noticed a lapse in her defense. He seized the opportunity and grabbed her hand. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening he dashed away, her hand held in his in an iron-like grip forcing her to stumble after him._

 _"O-Oy! Let go! Let go of me, you stupid brat!" Finally collecting her wits, she started to shake her trapped hand and yell at the boy who was pulling her away._

 _"No way! If I did that you would just run away to destroy things again!" he shouted back sounding happy with himself and with his logic._

 _Her frown and glare intensified at his words._

 _"You little... Are you mental?! Leave me the fuck alone!"_

 _"Don't speak like that! Mama told me that we should be polite to others and not use bad words!" He turned briefly to 'glare' at her but it came out more like a pout._

 _She narrowed her eyes at him and dug her boots into a ground. Thanks to this action, she managed to stop the boy but at a cost of unbalancing herself. N_ _ot having anything to stop her fall, she fell right onto the muddy ground._

 _For a few second she just laid there, looking at a dead grass in front of her, her clothes now even dirtier than before._

 _What brought her out of her frozen state was a sound of laughter coming to her right. When she searched for a source of it, she found it in the form of that boy holding his stomach and laughing his head off._

 _Humiliated and_ _stunned, she felt her ears becoming hot_ _in embarrassment. Before he could notice and comment on it, she changed her embarrassment into fury. Slowly, very slowly she stood up and faced the boy, her muddy hair shadowing her expression._

 _The boy as if feeling his impending doom, stopped his laughter and peeked nervously at the girl in front of him. When he saw her standing there and looking murderous, he started to sweat and frantically wave his hands. He then commenced a tactical retreat and tried to talk himself out of trouble._

 _"I-I-I am sorry for laughing! I wasn't laughing at you... s-see that bird over there? Haha! What a funny b-"_

 _His poor attempt didn't fool the girl even for a moment; instead it seemed to anger her even more as she started to near him._

 ** _"I'll murder you."_**

 _"Aaaaaaa! Please don't kill meeeee!"_

 _/_

 _Somehow the boy managed to not get caught for a considerable amount of time and by the time she did catch him a frantic run for life turned into a game of catch._

 _They both lied on the cold ground, exhausted by their long run and gulping large amounts of air into their abused lungs._

 _"You *breath* shitty brat. *breath* How the fuck *breath* did you *breath* eluded me for *breath* so long."_

 _The first to speak was the girl. Her words were broken apart because she needed to get in more air but her voice still had its edge even when she was exhausted. Although her words were supposed to sound angry, they were more curious and impressed._ _She was a fast runner and had quite a stamina, the kid had more in himself than she first thought._

 _"Luck?" He sounded quite amazed and surprised at his feat too. It seemed that he didn't think that he would last for so long either. What can a little bit of fear do to people indeed. She snorted._

 _Finally catching her breath she stood up and tried to dust her clothes, but after seeing their full state, she gave up on that. Instead she looked at the kid still laying on the ground. She moved to stand next to him and just looked at his form with an unreadable face. He apprehensively stared back at her and when she suddenly moved, he flinched. However she only extended her hand towards him, offering help._

 _He looked at it dumbfounded, but then he hesitantly reached for it clearly afraid of trick._ _She snorted again and pulled him up. Once done with that she turned her back on him and started to go away._

 _"Wa-wait!"_

 _Before she could walk more than three steps away his voice stopped her. She twisted around to face him again her face set in an agitated expression._

 _"What."_

 _"I, I just wanted to tell you that you're not that bad. I thought you were super scary and mean, but you are actually okay!"_

 _"...Thanks?"_

 _"So, what's your name anyway?! Oh! I didn't tell you to mine either, eh? Hehe… sorry! My name is Theodore! But friends call me Theo, so call me that too, okay?"_

 _She blinked several times and then zeroed her sight on his face to see if he was making fun of her. But the only thing that she saw were earnest eyes and blinding smile. The smile made her insides squirm, but in a pleasant way._ _She furrowed her forehead in thought as she processed all the things he said. Friends? When did they become friends?_

 _„_ _Don't just decide that on your own..." she mumbled quietly._

 _„_ _Huh? Sorry? I didn't quite hear that."_

 _"It was nothing... I guess I can tell you my name. It's..."_

* * *

I woke up before the girl in my dream could finish her sentence. After that, I just laid in my crib, processing my dream. It was weird to have a good dream for once and not a nightmare.

In the last few weeks all I dreamed about was either Theo's death, our big fight, my death and... then there were the mixed ones. The were probably the worst ones, deformed as they were. I couldn't distinguish between what really happened and what my mind constructed. Past and present were fusing into each other and I always woke up disoriented. What was in past, what is present. What is illusion, what is real?

This time my dream was a memory of the time I met Theodore. Sure, it wasn't the greatest meeting ever I was angry little shit, still I am most of time to be honest. But I quite liked how we met, it has its charm I suppose. And, it wouldn't be possible to happen any other way anyway, our lives were too different.

This memory dream has another significance, besides the meeting, however. It was the moment where I was pulling _him_ up. It was first and at the same time last time it happened this way. Other times our roles were reversed and I was the one on the ground, lazing around on the ground after beating some annoying pests.

With a tired sigh I clutched side-bars of my crib and with tremendous effort, I heaved my very uncooperative body up and into seated position. From this position, I had a good view of the other crib. My sight was now up to par thus I didn't have a problem to see the other occupant of the room.

My eyes landed on the form of my peacefully sleeping brother. As I gazed at his dozing face, carefully studying his relaxed expression, my mind decided to play tricks on me, _changing_ the peaceful image _._ Now the short green curls were replaced with dark brown hair, just a little longer than those green ones. Face sharpened and stretched, all baby fat disappearing to form a new, older face.

I recognized those features. I knew what my mind was trying to do but I refused it. I averted my eyes from my twin and instead looked through the window of our room. The branches of the tree that was next to our house were moving slightly and I let my mind wander.

I couldn't do this to my brother. I couldn't expect him to be the exact replica of Theo when the two of them were entirely different people ( _but they were so similar, so similar, that it hurt..._ ). I wanted to live in denial and just believe that Izuku was Theo, but... but... it wouldn't be fair. Not to my best friend who stayed with me even though others were trying to persuade him that I was bad news. Not to my little brother that I still didn't know enough, but who I started to love the moment I saw his smile. I can't just replace Theo, I can't just discard my twin's own persona.

 _'They aren't the same person.'_ I repeated and repeated that sentence in my head until I was sure it was enough ( _it still wasn't enough, probably will not be for a long time, but it was a start_ ). Then I turned around to look at my brother again and felt relieved when I was greeted with a sight of sleepy green eyes instead of brown ones. My tricky mind delusions lost the fight for now.

Wind outside picked on its strength bending branches more and more. It was a stark contrast to my mind, that seemed to finally calm down after a weeks of internal turmoil.

 _'He is my brother... my twin brother... my other half as is said about twins... I want to have a good relationship with him. I won't let anything destroy it... not even my brain's dumb mind games.'_

I will protect him. This time, nobody will die on my watch. He will live... even at the cost of my own life.

xXxXxXx

After I sorted out my priorities, everything seemed to look brighter than before. Though I could partly attribute it to the fact that we finally were being fed by a spoon and not a bottle or... yeah. Nothing against milk but I think I harbored strong aversion towards it after I was fed it ( _and only it_ ) daily for months.

After my first session with a spoon, I decided to reward my mother with my first words. I wanted my first word to be my twin's name but then I decided against it. He wasn't the most attentive baby so he wouldn't even register if I said his name and I was sure our mother would appreciate my first world as it was supposed to be appreciated. It was my first world! So yes, my first word was 'Kaa-san' as it had to be said in her language, which I finally discerned as Japanese and of course I was reincarnated into a country I know almost nothing about.

I probably butchered the 'mom' word with my uncooperative tongue, but she looked happy despite my difficulties at articulating. I was once again stuck by realization of how much she had to love us, when she started to cry tears of joy after hearing it and having the sillies, biggest smile as she crushed me against her chest.

I guess... It wasn't that bad to have a mom like this.

However that couldn't be said about our father. His lack of presence was becoming more and more profound as more time passed. I think it was around two months since I last saw him around and even then it was only for one hour or so. Buuut I digress.

There was one thing that made me even more happy than the change of food. It was the slowly mending relationship with my brother. He was wary during the first week after my outburst. I let him that week to himself and after that, when I was sure he forgot most of the incident, only then I tried to get him like me.

I started slowly. When he was building a mountain out of plastic bricks I helped to stabilize it and moved closer those bricks he couldn't reach from his position. He only shot me a curious look but didn't frown or shuffle away from me so I counted that as a win.

Then I actually started to hand him things he couldn't reach. I knew that this could make him remember _the incident_ but I was becoming impatient. What can I say? It was becoming boring to play with my plush all day long. I couldn't 'play' with mom because she was way too focused on looking for any kind of discomfort that could cause another _incident_. My near panic attack made her little paranoid. That made me feel a little guilty...

Speaking of mom, amazingly enough I think she was able to use telekinesis or something similar because I saw things _fly_ towards her on their own. I am not joking. Seriously, I am not. And I am not crazy... I hope. Anyway, I am leaving this discussion for another time, if its all the same, I rather discover that I am truly mad at later date.

Okey, so back to my brother. He reacted quite well all things considered. Of course, he was hesitant to take things from me at first but after he took fifth or so thing from me he lost his hesitation and just took whatever item I was holding out to him. I had some entertainment with this like that time when he tried to solve puzzle and I gave him wrong piece He looked so funny when he tried to cram that piece into his chosen place and it just didn't fit.

Another win for me.

And then came the biggest obstacle. I decided to do sibling stuff... like clapping hands, ruffling hairs and things like that.

I was quite nervous when I decided to try it for the first time as I didn't have the slightest idea how he would react. I was probably being silly as he was still a small child that couldn't distinguish between friend and foe... but I was just _so afraid_ to see that scared expression again. I suppose, I could accept if he ever disliked me or even hated me but I couldn't if he was terrified of me. It's just... no.

So I stretched my hand and... poked him in the stomach.

I was so jittery that I just lightly poked him and then immediately scooped away to give him space. I observed his reaction uncertainty.

He blinked few times and then looked at me with confusion expression. We just stared at each other. Our stare-down ended when he started to toddle towards me. I think my expression in that moment resembled 'dear in the headlights' and I seriously debated if it was too late to run for the hills because you can't even imagine how _scary_ toddlers could look... and they aren't even trying.

In the end, I decided that it was indeed too late and thus I stayed in place, unmoving as my twin reached my side and assaulted me.

...

Okay, I admit that I was exaggerating, but seriously what should I call it then when I was squashed between ground and my brother because said brother decided that's it was such a clever idea to topple his full weight onto his sister. Let me tell you, for being just only few months old he was _heavy_.

And what was worse, our mom was enjoying my suffering way too much and even summoned camera from who knows where again and then proceeded to document every little detail about my situation. Traitor. She should help her poor suffering daughter and not laugh at her misfortune.

I sighed. I suppose, I will endure for now it if it made her laugh longer. I must have really scared her before, because now that I think about it, this was the first time she laughed so freely after the _incident_. How did I didn't notice until now that she was so tense all the time? Guilt started to nibble at my conscience... guess I will behave more cutely for a while just for her.

She looked more at ease after she stopped snapping pictures of our pile and then after putting the camera away she walked over with a soft smile and plopped next to us. As if she was using magic, both toddlers devoted their full attention to her at the same time. She opened her arms wide with an inviting smile., immediately pile or not, we moved as one person (toddler) and crawled over to her and into her warm embrace.

As we sat on the ground in the three-person embrace I thought to myself that I could get used to this. This feeling of love, of acceptation... I would do anything to preserve this for the longest time possible.

I still didn't know what I did to deserve it, but in that moment I didn't care, I truly appreciated this second chance I was given.

xXxXxXx

I narrowed my eyes.

The image in the mirror copied my action.

 _'So… this is me now.'_

After inhabiting this body for several months I was finally able to see what I looked like without freaking out. My mother was looking with some amusement as I made random faces into the mirror, my reflection mirroring everything I did. Again I was struck by the peculiarity of the situation. I did expect for me to look somewhat like my brother as we were twins and they usually had at least a little similarities to each other but assuming and actually seeing it were two different things.

Indeed, I was similar to my brother. I could even go even go as far as to say that we were nearly identical because the resemblance was truly uncanny. If I didn't know that he was several feet from me, chewing on his toy and thus not in the position to be seen in the mirror I would say that it was him in the reflection. It's... funny in a way.

Like my brother I had a little nose, big green eyes, chubby cheeks adorned by freckles and curly green hair, mine looking a shade lighter though at second glance. I probably had more freckles than my twin and my face wasn't so round and 'squashy' as his, but overall we looked same.

I wonder if we continue to resemble each other even as we get older... I hummed in thought. There was something I wanted to try for a long time.

I stretched my mouth into a wide smile.

...

... ...

 _'Okay... let's not do that again. Ever.'_ Except as a scare tactic. That could work.

Just as I thought that, my mother who probably saw my 'smile' squealed. Loudly. She dashed towards me, took me into her arms and then proceeded to squeeze the living shit out of me.

Now... I always knew that my mother was a little crazy in a head but until now I didn't know how much. Because this couldn't be blamed on just 'mother's love' anymore. My wide smile was downright creepy, how could she like it? And even say that it was cute?! ( _I've stopped to delude myself that 'kawaii' means scary_ )

What is wrong with her? I don't understand, but something is telling me that I don't want to. I am just gonna write it up on the list named 'Weird traits mom has' there was already plenty of things written here anyway.

"Okaaaa~" I whined at her, wanting to be placed down again. But it had no effect and instead she pressed me to her even more.

 _'Please… somebody help meeeee.'_

xXxXxXx

After I was finally put down and mom left the room, my brother, who was probably lonely or something because he wasn't included in the 'hug', paddled over to me and assaulted me again.

I think I was starting to get used to the feeling of being squashed against the floor. I realized over the last few days that this was his way of greeting me or something because he did it every single day. Was I bothered by it? Hell yes. Will I stop him from doing it? ... Nope. He always looked so happy when he lied on me that I didn't have the heart to stop him. I'll put with this for a little longer... however if it doesn't stop around a time of kindergarten then I will make it stop.

Our attention flew to our mother when she came back into the room holding several clothes for both of us. She then started to dress up my brother into what looked as 'outside clothes'. That piqued my interest, were we finally going out? Not that I didn't like our house, but I already saw most of it as we often changed places when we played, it was so mom could cook or do some other chores and still be able to have us in her sight. I was curious about the town we were living in, though!

I probably won't be able to recognize the name of a town as the only city I knew that was in Japan was the Tokyo and I was sure that we didn't live there - seeing how peaceful the view we had from our window was. However I was still curious of our neighborhood.

Sometimes we had visitors but they usually just said hello to me and my brother talked with mom for about an hour or so and then went way. Even a woman who was occasionally looking after us when mom went grocery shopping only stayed for a while. I guess mom wasn't very close to our neighbors. Sure they were all nice, friendly and polite to each other but they weren't close. Mom probably moved here just before our birth and instead of acquainting herself with other people in the town she had her hands full with us because our father was nowhere in sight most of the time.

No, I was not trying to shift a blame on him. I really was not... Okay, maybe a little. I am sure there was a reason why he wasn't there most of time, he didn't look like a bad person but. The mom had to work hard to take care of two babies on her own and at the same time take care of their whole house and sometimes she looked so tired and lonely and... okay, I was angry at him. I think it was reasonable reaction, however.

I wasn't able to ponder about our absent father more because mom started to dress _me_ up this time. When I looked over at my twin he was wearing warm green overall that had ladybug on the front. I snorted at his moody face. He wasn't too happy with the print and was trying to reach it with his mouth and chew it out.

As if summoned by the thought of chewing, my mouth started to itch, more precisely my gums. Words of wisdom: growing out new teeth sucked. Enough said. Therefore for the itching to stop I attacked with my gums at the nearest thing in my reach. That thing turned out to be mom's hand.

Well... awkward.

I looked up to see her expression, but I also didn't stop my chewing on her hand. To my relief she didn't look angry, if anything she looked amused by my antic. So as I was given the imaginary go ahead, I continued in my endeavors without restraint.

When I was finally dressed and I seriously don't know how she did that with only one hand ( _magic I suppose_ ) into blue overalls with turtle at the front, she gently pulled her completely slobbered hand from my hands. As an replacement she gave me a dinosaurus plush that flew into her hands out of nowhere. Literally. Was now the time to start wondering if I had gone mad? Nah... let me be in denial for a little bit more.

So now what? Did we have a stroller for two? I hope that the answer is yes...

xXxXxXx

As it turned out; yes we had a two-stroller. Through it was little on a smaller side... still, what a relief. I didn't want to be carried in some kind of scarf or something on my mother's chest.

We've been strolling around for about an hour already and I have to say: This town was pretty nice. But kind of boring.

I lived in a busy city before and no matter the time of the day, streets were always full of people. Contrary to that this town was more on a quiet side. There was still a lot of people but not as much as one would meet every hour of a day in my previous birth town. Though I had a feeling there were sections in this town, that were similarly busy and our mother just purposely stuck to quieter parts as she didn't want to overwhelm us. We were mostly led through parks and around coasts.

I was able to deduct that it was early spring now as plants were in the state of not fully blooming. It was still quite chilly too, fortunately clothes were quite warm and mom also gave us hats, gloves and scarves - I had them in pink and my brother in purple, so I wasn't cold at all. And considering my brother's happy... something, he was warm too. Seriously though, he did the weirdest sounds when he was happy if he was trying to freak me out then, okay bro, you are doing a good job.

Our mother was talking to us throughout the journey, only stopping when she had to greet somebody. I was impressed by her ability to talk for so long without having a sore throat. Although I am sad to say that I wasn't able to understand most of what she was saying. I suppose it was understandable as my mind was still in its 'English mode' and learning new language without having some sort of dictionary or someone who could explain the language was pretty hard. I'll just have to be patient and learn Japanese slowly.

We were once again stopping as mom started talking with somebody. I looked with disinterest at that person but when I actually saw the guy, my brain stopped functioning and my mouth opened wide, the plush I was chewing on before laid forgotten in my lap.

 _'What... the hell?! Is this for real?! Am I dreaming?! I am dreaming, right?!'_

Now, I know I said before that my reincarnation situation was crazy enough and thus nothing could surprise me anymore but... I miscalculated a little because right now I was very much surprised. No, the better phrasing would be that I was fucking _astounded._

Okay. Just... Keep calm. Stay calm woman. You are thirty-plus year old adult, mentally at least. You could do better than this. It was okay. This was nothing. It was pretty normal for people to have wings, right? Haha... yes it was... normal... peeeerfectly normal...

...

Who was I kidding?! This was totally not okay! I could point out several things that were wrong with this image. Like... wings. Okay, I WAS pretty struck on this one fact, but who wouldn't? They were even moving for god's sake! They were either really realistic part of costume or... or I was actually reborn into some kind of freaky fairy tale?

Just as I was contemplating which choice to believe to preserve my rapidly deteriorating sanity, the winged guy decided it for me. He spread his wings and... flew away.

...

Excuse me but I think my mind short-circuited a little.

xXxXxXx

Afterward, I practically ignored everything around me for a remainder of our walk. Though I made sure to look 'alive' as I didn't want to scare my mother to death again. Then after we arrived home, ate baby food and were put into bed, only then I allowed myself to think again.

I gazed at a ceiling of our room and thought about everything and nothing at the same time. It said something about my past-me that I only had these thinking moments in _this_ life. Though, it was only because there was no other way for me to deal with those freaking surprises this life was constantly throwing at me.

Previously, when something bad happened that threw me completely for the loop I either beat up something ( _I didn't care if it was living or not_ ) or drank myself senseless. Both options worked pretty well in calming me down all things considered but sadly both were off-limits now. It was such a pity too... a good drink would be a perfect remedy for this situation and for her hurting brain.

Heh... I suppose I could try to destroy my crib but I don't think it is a very good idea to be seen as even more unstable baby than I was now. So looking at the wall/ceiling and thinking it is.

I couldn't really describe what was running inside of my mind in this moment. My mind was full of abstract ideas and tangles of thoughts and I was too fucking tired to unravel and examine them. I thought it would be pretty easy and dare I say _fun_ to start from the... well start. But I know now that I was being too much of an optimist. And wasn't that pretty funny? I always prided myself in being realist.

It wasn't even a full-year and I was already feeling so _exhausted_. Sure, I know I was over thirty when I died, however I anticipated that all the fatigue I felt before would just disappear... And I'll truly start again, energized and feeling the full power of rebirth. Guess not.

But hey everything comes with a price, right? I was granted this big privilege of second chance ( _still don't know why me, was it just a random lottery? I've never won things like those..._ ). I was very blessed, indeed, to end in such a wonderful family. I'll just have to overcome all these negative things and then maybe... maybe I could truly feel as if I was worthy of this second chance in this family.

Though I seriously doubted it.

I was not a good person. Not even decent. I've killed people. Countless of times, too. I was selfish, cold, mistrustful, rude, plus all other negative-traits-one-can-think-of person. And no this wasn't my low self-esteem talking, I was pretty confident individual. This was me just being truthful and honest with myself. I was not proud of what I've become, but I've learned how to live with it.

The point was: Could a person like this truly redeem herself? I was not too sure about that.

And what if this world already had some kind of 'Grand future' pre-written and with me being there, this future will become void? After all magic(?) existed, wings existed... It won't be too far-fetched to guess that an ultimate villain and hero who will defeat him exists too.

And wasn't that just nice image, that I could be a reason for everything ending badly? 'Butterfly effect' and all that shit. My luck was always low, so what is to say that it won't cause an apocalypse of some kind here, after it gets mixed with chaos theories.

... Just thinking about all these possibilities made my head hurt even more.

Anyway, I have this feeling that I strayed from the main reason I started this train of thoughts but hey, I don't think it was all that important if I forgot it already.

I yawned... eh, sleep sounded like a good idea.

xXxXxXx

Days after a shocking discovery that supernatural abilities were a thing here, were... normal. Nothing changed except I now know for a fact that yes, our mother was really using telekinesis.

Well, I know it wasn't like _discovering_ that super powers existed would change anything, okay? They existed before I was aware of them, it made sense that everything would stay the same after I was acquainted with that fact. But I guess I was just hoping for something... I don't know... Wasn't it normal in movies that when protagonist became aware of secret that was previously hidden from them that everything drastically changed? I am talking about "Yer a wizard Harry." magnitude of changes.

Nope? Nothing like that?

Okay then. It wasn't like I was the protagonist of anything. I think that if ( _and only if_ ) I was included in some kind of literature, the role that would be assigned to me would be villain or anti-heroine. Hmmm... that would be pretty cool, though the rule 'good always wins' wouldn't exactly be in my favor. Pity...

Ehmmm, that was a joke. Why would I want to be in a spotlight as either of those two things? It would such a hassle... So yes, I was only joking. (maybe)

...

A-Anyway! Liked I said before: nothing changed. Life was going on and on, dragging unsuspecting victims with its flow... like me. If I was being honest with myself I think I was going more than a little bit crazy because this absurd life of toddler was mind-numbingly boring.

Although it wasn't exactly like I had nothing to do. There was a number of things I could do: I could play with my bro in our cool little-fenced area. I could babble at my mother who happily answers me back ( _I usually spew at her whatever thing that comes to mind making our conversation quite hilarious_ ). I could play with my food and throw it at the nearest person. I could toddle ( _or sometimes stumble_ ) around the house and do funny faces into the mirror. Sometimes we went out for a stroll and I could see weird abilities people have in this world.

 _But it just wasn't enough._

For woman who had quite an adventurous life before, where she had to fight for her life every other day and who gave 'riding like a (wo)man possessed' an entirely new meaning... this just wasn't enough.

I wasn't saying that I wanted to fight for my life again or that I wanted different, livelier family. God forbid no. I loved our little family. I enjoyed every day that I spent with them and I think I've never been happier ( _well I certainly wasn't after Theo died)_.

But sometimes I felt this tight feeling in my chest. Like something was trying to drown me from inside. It helped a little when mom gave me kiss on the forehead, when Izuku took my hand into his ( _because he was precious little cinnamon roll who was perceptive like that_ ) or when they both smiled at me with their brilliant smiles.

Still, it didn't completely disappear and I will feel restless and I will have this sudden urge to do _something._

Of course nothing dramatic like killing somebody but I think my 'average baby' image I was pretending to be, would suffer quite a bit if I started to bang my toys against the wall like mad-(wo)man. I have a feeling that wasn't something a mentally healthy individual would do... didn't I said before that I was getting a little ( _read a lot_ ) crazy? There is a proof. Ha. Ha.

I don't know what it was that made me feel all these things about 'not having enough' when I already had everything I desired in my previous life. Was I becoming too greedy? Or too self-centered? Well, that was nothing new. And in the first place, while I could be patient for a while I could never _for too long._

And certainly being patient for one whole year, doing nothing but things that may be satisfying for an undeveloped mind of a toddler but which clearly weren't for an already advanced mind of an adult... shouldn't that be counted as having a patience of a saint?

To whatever entity that sent me here, please, let something happen.


	4. There are things you do sometimes

There is a change of POV at the end.

 **Beta: OTrizy**

 _Quote: "There are things you do sometimes, actions that you take by obeying sudden impulses, without stopping for even a fraction of a second to think, and then you spend the rest of your life either lamenting it or thanking yourself for it. They are rare, unique, and perfect moments." - Irene Gonzalez Frei_

* * *

I would like to say that the day we turned one started like any other, but that would be a lie, so I won't say that. Instead what we see first when we opened our eyes (incidentally almost at the same time, was this twins telepathy?! Was that a thing in this world?) was our mother in her hyperactive mode dancing around the room, hanging decorations and singing something Japanese version of 'Happy birthday'. She had a nice voice as I already knew from the times she sang lullabies to us, however, to see her being so active in the morning while I was still half asleep… well, I was not a happy camper. That couldn't be said about my twin, because when he spotted our mother doing this... weird dance of hers, he was overjoyed and started happily clap and hum along.

Please no. Was this really happening?! Was everyone in this family early risers?! Whyyyyy...

While I was distracted by thoughts of my dreadful future, our mother finished decorating our room and was now walking towards us.

She smiled cheerfully when she saw that we were watching her and started to speak at a rapid pace.

"Izuku! Kou! Happy birthday...!"

And that was all I understood... I was somewhat capable of following words that were spoken to me now, but only if they were slowly and clearly said. I guess she was just too excited because of our birthday. I couldn't really fault her as I was excited too, but for different reasons. I managed to endure one full year of doing baby things! Now that I succeed in reaching this milestone of my life, I felt hope that this enduring was not endless! One day... one day I would arrive at the point where I won't be limited by this uncooperative body! One day-!

I was dumped into a bathtub.

 _'Okay… that day was still far away,'_ I thought morosely as I glared at warm water into which I was discarded. Wanting to vent some of my frustration, I started to violently slap water around me. I stopped when one of the splashes I created hit my brother's belly. I lifted my eyes to peek at my brother's face. He looked stunned for a moment, but then he met my eyes and something glinted in his. His mouth stretched into a mischievous smile and he started to splash chunks of water at me.

Okay, you cheeky little brat. You want, a war? You got it! But don't cry when I completely destroy you!

However, I made a grave mistake... No we both did. We forgot something and that was a doom for both of us. On that day we received a grim reminder... we experienced complete annihilation and that will haunt us for at least a decade.

As both of our bodies radiated defeat our indomitable foe stood above us with a content smile on her face.

Apparently, our mother was the queen of water fights.

...

Okay, I was little over-dramatic there but seriously that sure was embarrassing! Man, I really should polish my water-fighting skills if I ever wanted to take revenge... Wait what I was even thinking?! Was I always so immature?! Ugh... whatever... going with a flow there. Heh, with the flow... there still was a lot of water in the tub so I could try it...

...

Actually, I think I was becoming more childish the more time I spent as a toddler, however, this wasn't such a bad thing, I suppose. I'll have to go through the whole childhood again so it was better if I could behave as a normal child. Not that I could completely pull that off as I was little (read a lot) antisocial human being. But hey I think I was actually more sociable now? True, I only ever communicated with my family and sometimes with the woman who looked after us when mom couldn't but how much harder it would be for me to talk with other people?

Maybe I could try it today? I think I heard my mother say that _her_ parents would be coming today. I will have to brush out my acting skills because while my mother was already used to somewhat quiet-self I could be seen as a mentally underdeveloped child or something to my grandparents. Not something I wanted to be known for as one could guess.

I would just copy my brother's blabbering and happy self. Not that hard.

xXxXxXx

Okay, screw all my plans of acting as a happy child I was so not gonna to that shit. I was still feeling quite miffed and I nobody could pay me enough to smile at that witch.

I should explain what made me so displeased, to do that I'll need to start from the start.

Our grandparents came around an hour or so after our bath time and the first thing that sprang into my head at the sight of them was: _'Damn.'_

Our grandmother was… I didn't have words to describe her. I could say beautiful like our mother but that wouldn't give her enough justice. Our mother was beautiful, no doubt about it but she was more cute and lovely than bewitching. In comparison, our grandma's was beautiful too but it was in more mature and delicate way, ethereal beauty if you would. Even if she was probably pretty old, she still could give most of the models run for their money.

Her green hair (lighter than our mothers) was arranged into a tight bun at the top of her head. On her face, where first wrinkles were starting to appear, she had tastefully done makeup, making her look younger than she probably was. How old were my grandparents anyway?

She was dressed in a... how was that piece of clothing even named? Kimi… kimono or something? Point was that it was _gorgeous_ and even though I've never been a vain individual I was feeling quite underdressed at the moment in my white T-shirt with duck at the front and blue-white checkered pants.

She had neutral expression on her face but what made me stop and actually _look_ were her azure eyes that didn't hold that mature look one would expect from such dignified looking woman, no her eyes held mirth in them as if she knew exactly what everybody's first thoughts of her were and it amused her to no end. Well... she certainly was an interesting individual.

Our grandfather was... enormous. He easily towered over both women and I would have been wary of him a little if it weren't for his kind face and warm smile. His face held more wrinkles than his wife's but it didn't make him look older than her. In fact, his laid back posture made him look younger. He had green eyes that were identical to our mother's and therefore to ours. His hair… heh… his hair well, I actually didn't know how to explain that black mess. I wondered if our hair would look like that, too, when we grow up? That thought was… terrifying. And he had a beard on his face. It didn't make him look unkempt or something as it completely suited his rough features.

His attire consisted of kimono too; however, it was plainer than the one woman wore. I think I liked his more because it looked more practical and it was dark blue in color and that was like my favorite color.

Now that I described my grandparents let's go onto what made me so grumpy.

They firstly greeted our mother and while I did expect the form of grandpa's greeting (he ruffled her hair and then hugged her)... I certainly didn't expect what grandmother did. She examined our mother's body from top to down, nodded to herself and then spoke: "You look good for a single mother."

Following that she slapped our mother's back. And from how much effort our mother had to spend to just stay upright I deduced that it was quite a slap.

I frowned at the meaning of her words. I certainly didn't understand it fully but from how grandpa looked scandalized and our mother troubled I somehow understood what she was trying to say and it was quite rude. Even I wouldn't say something like that. Probably.

"M-mother! You know that I am not a single. I have a husband!"

Mom sounded pretty indignant and I don't really fault her there as I was pretty displeased too.

"Oh? So where is he? His kids are one year old and he isn't with them. What a waste of a man."

Grandmother's voice now held a derisive undercurrent in it and as she lashed her last sentence it was told so coldly that even hell would freeze over with it. I was no lesser human but damn, that woman was scary. That, however, could not stop me for glaring daggers at her.

"Dear."

Grandfather put his hand on his wife's shoulder. His voice was firm but when she set her gaze rest on him he actually looked flustered a little bit. Clearly, he was the whipped one.

"What. I am only telling truth."

Her voice was flat and her eyes dared him to disagree. He didn't. I, however, had something to tell her. Sure, I wasn't following conversation fully. But. My mother looked more and more upset as words were exchanged and I didn't like it. Not one bit. And from my brother's nervous twitching he didn't like it either (we were both seated on the ground with bricks around us). I took his hand into mine and squeezed it to let him know that his big sister would take care of this (I had to find out soon who was older one out of the two of us, but until then _I_ was the older one).

When he directed his gaze to me I sent him a small smile. Then I let go of his hand and made my way to the woman who was making my brother uncomfortable and my mother distressed.

So, she wasn't fond of my father I could understand that as I was pretty pissed at him too, but mom didn't do anything wrong! Who gave her the right to upset my family?!

Now, I was a fairly pissed individual in that moment and as I liked approach 'do something then think' better than, let's say more practical ones, I did something others would consider stupid. I would probably too if I actually thought that through.

But I didn't... thus...

I bit her leg.

 _Silence._

Okay, so yeah I could be pretty hasty, but I've never seen it as a problem because I was strong enough to get out of any shit my impatience would get me into. However, I think I should start to learn to control myself now... not wanna get into problems in this life too.

Anyway, after a brief silence, in which everybody just looked at me, I decided that I was already in deep shit so why not finish it? Thus I stopped to hold that old woman's leg with my teeth and tilted my head up to glare at the woman. Then I calmly spoke one word to her.

"No."

She lifted one of her perfect eyebrows at my audacity but instead of accepting my challenge she shifted her eyes to look behind me. I blinked in confusion at that until I heard soft shuffling sounds behind me.

 _'What in the world-?'_

Before I could finish my thought something jumped on my back and pushed me into a carpet. The weight was warm and familiar and I couldn't exactly comprehend what was he trying to do.

"No!"

My twin's voice was loud and resonating making it sound like a command. It certainly had more impact than my calm statement. However we both expressed our dissatisfaction with our quest and we _dared_ her to continue in upsetting our mom in our presence.

I tried to shake my brother from me but he was like a leech so I huffed and decided to just glare at the woman from the ground. I was little exasperated at him for inviting himself into the trouble like that but at the same time I was warmed by the thought that _he_ wanted to shield _me_... or he just liked being sprawled over me.

Silence ensued again but it only prevailed for few seconds after which our grandpa spoke again.

"Dear."

It held more edge than before and when I looked at his face his expression was serious and there was something that flashed in his eyes that I didn't dare to identify. His wife looked at us and into his eyes and they had a silent conversation. The silence started to be pressuring until the woman sighed in defeat and looked to the left at the wall.

"Okay. Okay. I am not going to talk about him again. Sheeesh sensitive much?" she muttered to herself, but her husband cleared his throat and sent her a meaningful look that she registered when she turned to look back at him at his sound. She rolled her eyes but did as asked.

"I am sorry for the scene. It was uncalled for," she directed this apology at our mother who only nodded in acceptance. She had this resigned look on her face as if she saw this coming but hoping that it wouldn't happen.

Then she bent down to our little heap on the ground and patted us on our heads.

"I am sorry to you two, too. I can see now why my daughter looks so happy."

I was speechless at such fast turn of events. Did it mean we weren't in trouble? I didn't know what just happened here but clearly, I was too hasty in deciding who the whipped one was.

xXxXxXx

So there you have it, the cause of my bad mood. Sure she apologized, but still! She wasn't out of the hook yet, because clearly, she said that apology because she was pressured and not because she wanted to.

Thinking about how her husband could make her say sorry just like that made me quite impressed. I looked from my bowl full of baby food and directed my gaze at grandpa. I blinked in surprise when I realized he was already looking at me.

"You said her name was Kou-chan, right? She is quite good at eating on her own for a child her age."

Huh… Was I good at eating? I looked in confusion at my brother who was sitting opposite of me. I sweat-drooped. Yeah, I could see his point now that I actually compared mine and my brother's eating habits. His food was everywhere I think there were even stains on the wall behind him and the wall was quite far away from a table. If you compare it to my tray that has just some food here and there because sometimes my hands were just like "No, we want to move this way!"… yeah, I think this was pretty bad? I probably should have eaten a little more sloppily.

I let my eyes rest on my bowl again as I pondered what should I do next. If I started to make more mess than usual it would only make me more suspicious. But hey was it really that big of a problem? Sure I didn't want to be seen as some prodigious baby because I sure as hell wasn't (I've barely managed to pass high school) but overall? I didn't really care what they thought about me (though I didn't want to be seen as a mentally-ill if I could prevent it) and as long as they wouldn't try to shut me into some sort of Institute...

"And quite perceptive," he continued and I was hard pressed to not look at him. Sure I didn't know what was said about me exactly, but I could guess it was probably something about my awareness because shit I did it again. I looked at my brother plate and then at mine just after he said that I was eating tidily. I was digging my own grave there.

"Oh, yes she is quite aware of her surroundings! Sometimes I have felt like she could understand what I was saying without problems! And she is quite a fast learner too!"

Mother was answering grandpa and again there were so many words that I didn't know and it was driving me crazy. I needed to know what was being said! Why couldn't they speak English... it would be so much easier then...

"That's interesting... maybe her quirk already activated and it's something that makes her super-aware? Sometimes there are individuals that have quirk completely different from their parents. It's very rare but given the peculiarity of my quirk... it's not that far-fetched. And seeing as you had twins... there is still so much that we don't know about the bond twins share and how that influences their quirks."

Kosei? What was that shit? And why should I have something like that?

Wait maybe it was their equivalent of magic! Was that why they could use those superpowers? Ooooh, maybe I could use one too? That... would be totally awesome. It was like dream come true for all the people on the Earth. Though I do wonder what ability I have if I had one? Did I have telekinesis like my mother? Or something that my father possessed? Or something completely different? How did one even discover his ability?

In my excitement, I forgot that I was still holding the spoon and as my hands decided that they were bored with cooperation it caused food that I had in the spoon to fly... Right onto my brother.

...

Seriously? That was like second time today. I glared at my disobedient hands. And then turned to look at my brother. He was reaching to pat spot on his forehead where my food ended and when his hands reached it, he sent an accusing pout at me. I shrugged my shoulders at him in a way that said 'I don't know how I did that" and send him an apologetic smile. That didn't satisfy his indignation so with a sense of dread I watched as he scooped what remained of his food and sprang it at me. However before the ball of food could touch me, it stopped few centimeters in front of my face and then it started to slowly fly towards... our grandmother?!

Oh, okay then (I was getting too used to crazy things that were happening around me)... so she could use telekinesis too? Interesting. So are those powers inheritable? Although I think grandma's ability worked a little differently... or she could just control it better. When mom summoned to her something it flew to her right away and at much faster speed. And I didn't think I've ever seen her attract something moving, too.

"Oh! Thank you, mother. Knowing those two it would have developed into another food fight," spoke mom as she frantically stood up to… I don't even know what she wanted to do and before she could do that (again don't know what she was planning), grandma waved her hand in a gesture that said she should sit again.

"Don't sweat it. But you probably should teach them better manners if this is what happens regularly."

"Eh... yes..."

Grandmother did say nothing after that and instead stood up.

I observed her every move as she walked around the table and towards my brother who was staring at her with starry eyes. The ball of food following her like lost puppy. Once she arrived where she wanted, she took my twin's empty bowl and she discarded the ball into it.

"Now that's bad, don't waste food Izuku. Kou didn't mean to hit you before. Isn't that right, Kou?"

She started to speak and her sentences were consisting of easily understandable words, she even changed her tone of voice to suit the content of her words. Clearly, her last sentence was directed at me. What was that woman planning now? Well as I showed them before that I was a very perceivable baby, it would probably be stupid of me to not answer her... but...

... I hate complicated stuff like this. Okay. Let's just wing it.

"Yeeee..."

Here. It was not very intelligent reply but it was not outright ignoring either, right?! What do you say now, you old hag?!

She looked amused at my attempt to throw her for the loop.

Shit. What did I _do_ now?!

xXxXxXx

The lunch continued quite peacefully after that. Thought I was still wary of looking at either one of my grandparents. They were both crazily observant and it was such a bother to be around them.

I wasn't saying that our mother wasn't observant. Hell no, there was nothing that could be missed by a mother in her mother-hen mode (that was turned on most of the time), so yes she was very aware that I was not exactly normal but she accepted it. She didn't care that I was weird, that I was _abnormal_ even; she just took all of that in and didn't differentiate between me and my brother. And really if somebody ever wondered how I came to love her so much so fast... this here was one of the reasons.

After lunch, brother and I were moved into our beds for the afternoon nap and when we woke up we spent few hour in the presence of our grandparents and mother but this time there wasn't a whiff of animosity and uneasiness that was in the air between them before our nap. It looked like adults talked everything out. I was glad, to tell the truth, my poor frayed nerves wouldn't survive another scrutiny.

As I said we were with each other for few hours and in that time I found out some interesting facts.

Grandma's name was Midoriya Aihi and grandpa's Midoriya Manabu. That meant that we had our mother's maiden surname and that was pretty unusual. Was father's surname so bad that she didn't want it? And what about him, did he change his name too? Questions, questions. I had to wait till I was old enough to speak fluently, to have my answers though.

Our grandparents live pretty far away and that was supposedly why they visited on only this important occasion. When I thought about it they didn't show up at our mother's birthday too and speaking of it, when was it even? I've never seen her celebrating anything. That will have to change.

Another thing discovered: both of them were sooo weak to my twin's smile. Really, he will be the force to reckon with when he grows up and realizes what power his smiles had. Maybe it was his super power? Pity that I didn't have one like this too then. My smiles often had opposite effect, though I guess it was because I was trying too much. In the first place, why should I smile at people I didn't want to? Okay, they weren't that bad per se, but for me, they were still strangers and my smiles were only reserved for the people I like (ergo my brother and mom) - or at least those decent smiles were. The scary smiles though? Fair game.

And I found from their conversation that they would stay here for a week.

Well... that last information was more unpleasant than interesting.

After our get-to-know-each-other moment we moved into the kitchen where we had dinner and then mom brought a tray with five mini bowls on it. In them was pudding-like substance and into two of them were shoved candles.

Mother took my twin into her arms and I was lifted by grandpa. I was so happy that he was the one to pick me as I liked him more than that witch. Then we were both moved near our bowls and we 'blew out' candles (more like our holders blew them out but that detailed! Detail!).

Now was time for… presents! And who didn't like presents? I certainly liked them, if their objective wasn't to kill me, that's it. But as now there currently was no one who wanted me dead, I could enjoy my presents all I wanted.

My brother and I attacked the pile of presents with the same enthusiasm and I probably should have been embarrassed about that, but who cares! Presents!

There was a lot of them all in all. Most of them were that of the useful kind (like clothes, pacifiers, bibs, children's book...). I think my favorite was books that our mother could read us. And wasn't that ridiculous? Me being happy because of books? Hah... but as they say 'desperate times, call for desperate measures' and I was becoming quite desperate to learn that damn language already.

After we unpacked the last present we both were pretty exhausted. Well, it was quite tiring day and even though the start was horrendous, the end was that much better.

xXxXxXx

I didn't know what woke me up. Was it some sudden noise? Howling of neighbor's dog? I truly didn't know but one moment I was asleep and next I was dragged out of the land of dreams (I surprisingly didn't have a nightmare that night) and into the real world.

I was pretty disoriented by that sudden awakening and so I didn't register that there was somebody in the room until that person moved. Still half asleep I blinked few times at the shadowed person that was bent over my brother's crib and released questioning sound. Did mother come to check on us or something?

But as the person quickly turned around to look at me I realized that it wasn't our mom. It was bigger and certainly not a woman. I would have started screaming to alarm someone but the person's next words made me reconsider that idea. I recognized his voice.

"Oh. I am sorry. Did I wake you up Kou-chan?"

It was our father's voice. Even though it was already months that I last heard it, I easily recognized it. How could I not? He was one of the first people I heard in this world and he was my _parent_. However distant he was (he was still better than may las one, anyway).

He moved from my brother's crib to mine and took me into his arms. He was very careful with me; to the point that it was annoying. I was not made from glass, damn it! He then slowly extended his finger to touch my cheek but before he could reach it I snatched from the air. I didn't like being poked, thank you very much.

I gazed with furrowed brow at the finger in my fist. It looked so big in comparison to my whole fist. I was so tiny! It was little creepy... However before I could marvel more at the difference in our body sizes, the hand that was holding me started to tremble. I confusedly shifted my eyes from the finger to stare up into the face of my parent.

 _'What...? Is he... Is he crying?'_

I was completely bewildered, to say the least. He really was crying. Silent sobs were wracking his body as tears continued to drop from his eyes and then when they slipped from his face they fell onto my face with a wet slap.

I... what I was supposed to do? Like, what should I do to calm a _grown-up man_?! This was totally out of my comfort zone!

I made a distressed whine and waved my hands around to let him know that _I_ was the baby here and no, I wouldn't be the one placating him.

"I am sorry... I didn't want to frighten you. I was just... You are both an already year old...I am sorry. The time flew by so fast and I wasn't there for you. I am _so_ sorry. I am sure that you don't even know who I am..."

He continued to babble about that and that. What the hell?! I was not a psychiatrist, you know?! In the first place if you are so sorry that you weren't there so why weren't you?! I didn't ever hear one call from you! You could be sad and all that shit, but mum was sad too, you know?! And what about Izuku! He will grow up without father role in his life! And… and… you better have had a good reason for all the shit you are pulling when I someday ask you! If not then... then I don't know what I will do, but I will become angry, and angry me is not pleasant fellow to be with.

In my upset state, I didn't realize that I started to bang his chest with my little fists. It was probably just my way to stop this... this... pitying! He stopped his rant and looked down at me, clearly perturbed. I huffed and halted my endeavor to break his ribcage. Seriously... this man. I was more man than he was!

Already feeling exhaustion creeping at me I fought to stay awake for just a little bit more. Just long enough for me to say my "first" word to my father.

"O-tooou-san."

I tried to convey exactly what I was feeling for him in that but because it came out in a form of a tired whine it probably didn't have the effect I intended.

 _'Oh well... I already did enough, now it's time for him to put some effort...'_

* * *

 **~Change of POV~**

Midoriya Hisashi was your normal, average looking Japanese man. He had brown hair that reached to his chin, brown eyes that were usually hidden behind black square glasses and with some sprays of freckles there and there he was your mediocre citizen of Japan... Except when he wasn't.

Now let's not go into the detail of why he wasn't at those certain times. It would only hurt your pretty little head.

At the age of twenty-five, this man married a woman that he was seeing for three whole years. He couldn't have chosen a better wife. She was a cheerful and amazing individual who always waited for him at home and greeted him with open arms when he arrived after being away for weeks (months even). Then his lovely wife became pregnant and wasn't that just best thing ever? But as Hisashi didn't have the safest work in the world he decided that for twins to be safe, they had to move away. Though he didn't say that like that to his wife. His reasoning to her was that it would be better for kids to grow up in calmer and quieter town. She, of course, knew that it wasn't his full reason, but bless her beautiful soul, she agreed despite her doubts.

Thus they moved. He knew he asked too much of her, they moved quite far after all and there were unfamiliar people everywhere. So as to help her settle (and ease his guilty conscience) he decided to take a few weeks off from his work.

She was expecting to give birth soon too, so he wanted to be here for her.

And then the day 'D' came.

It was a day full of anxiousness and distress but at the same time full of happiness and exhilaration. At the end of the day, he was the proud father of two little beings.

They were beautiful and he wasn't even embarrassed when he cried tears of joy when he first had them in his arms.

That day as he looked down at his two sleeping kids, daughter and son, and his tired but happy wife, who sent him one of her smiles that made him fall so hard for her, he decided. He will not endanger this family of his, not even if it would mean that he wouldn't be there to see his little angels grown up. He will work extra hard in preserving their safety.

Though he did decide that it was hard for him to leave his three precious people. He stayed for the first two months of twin's life, though he sometimes had to vanish for a bit because of some kind of emergency at work. But he knew that he couldn't be here for much longer.

So with a heavy heart, he came back to work full time. He spent more time working than before because it was too dangerous to travel the long journey to his family. He sometimes sent a letter to his wife, however, he never called as mobile conversations could easily eavesdrop and of course, he made sure to send a sufficient amount of money to his wife's account.

Though there were times when he couldn't help himself and he had to go check on them. It was usually at night when if he somehow woke somebody up, he could let them think that he was just a dream.

Tonight was one of those nights.

He knew that twins turned one today so, with apprehension, he made sure to check up on them. His pocket filled with two presents he would never deliver because it would show he was there and he didn't want to taint their lives with his presence.

Therefore he came there. His plan was to stay for ten minutes and then silently leave, maybe even check on his wife, but he wasn't sure if he should risk that with others in the house.

Then his daughter awakened.

She had never done that when he was there and he didn't know what to do and before he could control himself he was clutching her in his arms. She certainly grew bigger and heavier but she was still so small. He was reminded of the day they had to take her to the hospital. At that time he was so afraid of his little girl dying or being unresponsive for the remainder of her life.

He still wasn't sure what made her be... so still and quiet... and that dead expression of hers haunted his dreams to this day because he didn't ever want to see that look in his little princess's eyes.

He was lost in memories of that time so when she took his finger into her little hand it was just too much.

He broke down.

He was aware of the fact that he was being absurd. He chose this so why was he so emotional about it now?! But even knowing that, he couldn't stop the flow of words coming out of his mouth. Half of the time he didn't even know what he was speaking about, but he was sure apologies were the most frequent theme.

Then he felt light bangs on his chest, looking down at his sometimes too observant daughter he was taken aback when he saw her too keen daze. However soon it was replaced with tiredness and she started to go back to the land of sleep. Of course not before shaking up his world again.

It was truly curious how one word could mean so much. Even if that word was barely distinguishable it brought him so much delight, hope, and more importantly _determination_. It helped one despairing man to harden his willpower.

He put his daughter into her bed and left without looking back. All that remained after his departure were two little charms that were hung on each of twin's cribs.

And it was for a long, long time when one Midoriya Hisashi saw his family again.

* * *

Aaaaand cut~!

Explanations:

Kosei = quirk, if it wasn't clear from the chapter.

The name Aihi can mean something like _"loving queen"_

Manabu means _"to study"_.

About Hisashi, he is cannon so you can find his name's meaning on the wiki, but for those who are lazy to find it, it means _"a long time ago"._


	5. Perfect happiness

Hello~ Enjoy this chapter~

 _Quote: Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It's the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps. -Sharon Draper_

* * *

When I woke up next day I felt... off. I wasn't sure if what transpired last night was my imagination acting again or if it really happened. Then mom came to wake us up and my thinking process came to the halt.

She entered with a smile on her face that fell when she spotted something on our cribs and instead it was replaced by a confused frown. She picked up two objects that were hanging on our cribs and examined them.

I narrowed my eyes at the two foreign things. They certainly weren't there yesterday. And so as I was individual that liked to be informed of everything that happened around me, I grabbed the front of my crib and pulled myself into standing position. Still I didn't see them in too much detail so I let adult in the room known that I was up.

"Kaa-saaaan."

She was startled for a moment by my sudden outburst but then she recovered and turned to me with smile back on her face.

"Good morning, Kou-chan! I hope that you've slept well, because today will be another exciting day!"

She was full of energy like always and proceeded to crush me in a hug. For such petite woman she sure had strength in her limbs. However to not look a gift horse in the mouth I took advantage of my position and examined closely objects in her hands.

It were two pendants, probably meant to be worn as key rings or if a cord was added as a necklaces. One of them was little green bunny with tinny collar where letter "I" was engraved. The other one was small blue (just a shade lighter than my favorite color, but it was still pretty nice shade) cat with letter 'K' on a collar.

I wanted to frown I really wanted but my mouth involuntary stretched into small smile. It was pretty sweet present and one doesn't have to think too much to decide from who it was. Although the one thinking about it had to know that our father was there. For someone (mom) who didn't… well I guess she must be pretty bewildered. Though that poses questions of why he didn't visit like normal person _during_ day or at least why he didn't visit mom too, when he was already there… Troublesome man he was.

I wonder what our mom would do with pendants that just appeared out of nowhere... Will she throw them out or something?

Nope. Not a chance.

Being the awesome woman she is, she just shrugged and put them to their rightful places. Then, still having me in one of her arms she turned to greet my twin, who in the meantime managed to wake up too. I am not ashamed to say that I released sound between snort and squeal (was that even possible?) at the sight of him greeting/mumbling back his greating with a yawn as he squirmed in his crib to escape out of the blanket. And utterly failing.

Mom didn't hold in her amusement either and giggled, making him look up from sheets and at us. His expression was scandalized as he babbled indignantly at us. However he soon stopped and pouted when he registered that it made us even more amused.

Eventually after few seconds, mom took pity on him and dumped me back into my crib so she could save our big boy from evil clutches of his blue blanket.

xXxXxXx

At breakfast we were told (in easy slow sentences, so I actually understood more than half of what was said) that today our mother will have a day for herself. Okay, I could roll with that as she fussed relentlessly around us for past year and she deserved some rest time. No problem there.

However where I _saw_ problem was fact that our grandparents decided to separate us. Now, I _can_ be separated from my twin for a few hours... no biggie! Really not! ... Okay I may have developed a little over protectiveness... But! I can let him be watched by a competent adult instead of me for a bit... However what was troubling me the most in this situation was that I was supposed to be with _grandmother_ … _Alone_ … _For hours_ …

'This royally suuuck,' I thought as I angrily stirred content of my bowl. Then I gathered some of it on my spoon and grumpily ate it all the while ignoring bits of food landing all around me (and sometimes _on_ me) that flew from Izuku's side of the table.

I know I was behaving childishly however as I was physically child I didn't see why I should be ashamed of that fact. Okay, the mature part of my brain was face-palming right now but _hell_ ; I really didn't like that woman.

So as to clearly show how _deeply_ displeased I was with their plan I continued to glower at my food for most of breakfast and if _anybody_ (okay not everybody as I was psychically _and_ physically unable to be mean to my mom and twin) tried to talk to me I sent them the deadliest glare this body was capable of. Though from the chuckles my grandparents were emitting and from how they continued in their endeavors to start conversations with me... it was sadly totally ineffective. And the worst part was that mom was laughing too! Traitor... And brother just cheerfully continued to eat in his messy way, throwing food everywhere.

Ugh... this day was just getting better and better. Do you totally see how overjoyed I was?

xXxXxXx

' _Damn… is this woman socially stunted or what?!'_

After breakfast we moved to a living room where after few minutes of chatter our mom disappeared to wherever she wanted and after few seconds two males disappeared too, probably to our shared bedroom. For an old man our grandpa was surprisingly fast.

That left me and grandma in the living room. We just sat there and looked at each other in an unpleasant silence.

Awkward...

The older woman was stiffly sitting on our couch and looking as if she was ready to bolt at any sudden noise. I scrunched my eyebrows at that. Where was that dignified if a bit snarky woman from before? She didn't seem like a socially inept person from all those conversations and actions she did yesterday. This was total opposite of her attitude from before.

Even _I_ in my past life wasn't that incompetent of holding conversation and that was saying _something_. Though point was that I've never had conversation with toddler before and it maaaay have ended like this if it came to it. But... I was her granddaughter, right?! So wasn't she supposed to... I don't know; do funny faces to make me smile or do all that shit grandparents did with their grandchildren?! Yesterday she did quite well in interacting with us...

Was it because she was alone now? Was she like that when she brought up mom, too? Maybe that's why they have such strenuous relationship...

That was actually pretty sad... Now that I've experienced how close relationship between mother and child could be... I could no longer imagine living without such bond. It was just so... warm, fuzzy and so joyful... I can't really explain how it felt, but I was sure that I felt more strongly about that than most people as I once lived without that feeling.

As I watched the squirming and frowning woman before me I started to wonder what was hiding inside that pretty head of hers.

' _Well… time to find out I suppose,"_ with that in mind I strengthened my resolve and paddled over to the sitting woman with serious expression on my face. She looked alarmed a bit and I wondered if she thought back to our... first encounter. I admit, biting someone on our first meeting was not something I wanted to be known of. It was pretty embarrassing now that I was remembering it.

I stopped few inches from her legs.

"What do you want, child? Go play with bricks or something," she tried to sound aloof and not at all affected but I could clearly see in the way she warily observed me, that she _was affected_ and was trying to determine what I was planning.

I smirked, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

I reached under the couch she was sitting on and pulled out neon green plastic ball and _threw it_ lightly at her. It bounced against her forehead and fell into her hands folded in her lap.

I snorted a little at her stunned expression but then I composed myself and let my expression melt into serious one again. I let my eyes connect with hers and spoke.

"Play."

She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion and looked from me to the ball in her lap and back at me again. I started to be impatient a little so I patted her leg to remind her that I was still waiting. I made sure to let her know for what I was waiting for, too.

"Play!"

"Geeez. Okay, okay, you impatient brat," she murmured as she took the ball into her right hand. She hesitated when she saw my satisfied smirk and her expression turned sour, however she still threw the ball. I was pleasantly surprised that she did but still I wasn't finished.

I caught the ball that was aimed at my stomach and shuffled away a little to bigger the distance between us. On the way I found another ball, this time yellow, and I took it into my other hand. Once I deemed the distance passable I clenched both of them tightly and prepared to throw them one after another.

' _Let's see how long you can continue this, granny.'_

Our eyes glinted with not-so hidden challenge.

I flung first ball and _The Battle_ started.

xXxXxXx

I was defeated. Again. However... I think I was quite okay with my loss this time.

Our battle was long and tedious one and as I had disadvantage from the start because of my small and sometime uncooperative body (and because of grandma's superpower) I thought I would be overwhelmed and defeated pretty fast, but surprisingly she went easy on me. She gave me time to built my barricade (out of bricks and plush toys... not really solid, but hey beggars can't be choosers) and she didn't use her powers too (well she did use them when I sometimes missed so much that it ended on the other side of the room).

In the end it was my baby stamina that was my doom-fall though granny too looked quite winded. I was just satisfied with the fact that I didn't go down without a fight.

I was laid out on carpet and looked at the brown chandelier with my mind comfortably blank as I rested on my back. Shadow fell over my lying form as grandma moved to stand next to me. I looked at her curiously and waited for what she would do.

In the end she just plopped down next to me without saying anything. I was tempted to shift away a bit because G _od,_ woman, there was this little thing called personal space, you know? Don't forget about such important things! But in the end I remained in place, because hey, this was bonding time and I probably shouldn't mess it up as the outcome of our 'little bonding time' will affect all our future interactions. And like it or not, she _was_ our mom's mother, so if I wanted to make mom happy I should be on at least decent terms with her parents.

Suddenly her hand moved and was unexpectedly placed on my short hair. She tousled it gently. I made and annoyed sound at that and light chuckle was heard from the person sitting next to me.

"You are good kid."

Well... glad that you acknowledged that as I was trying really hard to be good child, you know? It was not easy at aaaall to put on an act of a child when my mental age was over thirty, but I think I was getting used to it (too fast I'd say). Oh wait, she was still speaking.

"Your brother too... I am glad that my daughter is in such good hands."

Damn... What was with this sudden development?! Seriously woman! First you make me dislike you and now you say this?! How I am supposed to dislike you now!

I looked at her with creased forehead, trying to find insincerity on her face. But all I saw was small smile and glazed over eyes as the older woman continued to be lost in her memories. I grumbled to myself, still feeling little grouchy because of the confusing woman next to me, but I was sort of resigned with a fact that another person wormed itself into my heart.

Sigh escaped me and I shuffled a bit until I closed the distance between us fully and plopped my head onto her lap. She blinked few times as she slowly came back to reality and looked down at me with flabbergasted expression. I gave her crooked smile that soon dissolved into big yawn as sleepiness started to craw up on me. I made myself more comfortable on my human pillow and let myself succumb into dreamland.

xXxXxXx

I woke up few hours later in my crib. Nothing startling as I expected that I would be moved to my bed but what was certainly unexpected was warm body lying next to mine. I blinked few times as I wondered _why exactly_ we were sleeping in the same crib. Well not sleeping anymore as even my twin started to wake up from his slumber.

I stared at him as he yawned widely and drowsily looked around himself. His still half-closed eyes ended up being locked with mine. He was half-asleep and still processing what he saw but soon his eyes opened fully and the smile that stretched across his face nearly blinded me by its intensity.

He immediately rolled over to me and crushed me under his weight as he yelled into my ear.

"Kooouuuu!"

Yes, yes bro I was happy to see you too, but I will kind of need to use my sense of hearing for few more years so if you would be so kind and tone it down a bit?

I poked his side to let him know exactly that. It helped thank God. Instead of yelling my ear off he moved his head away and started to excitedly babble about this and that, probably trying to tell me about his day.

I decided to just roll with it and nod my head here and there to show that I was listening. He continued to lay on me through his tale and I found out that I didn't mind it all that much. His weight was kind of comforting and I squirmed a bit until I found more comfortable position to lay in.

We stayed in that position for quite some time and we only moved when it was time for food.

Later I would find out that we were in the same crib because Izuku started to fuss when he saw me being asleep and couldn't be placated. He only calmed down when he was placed next to me and once there he proceeded to stick to me like a glue and eventually he too fell asleep.

That made me giddier than I anticipated and if I let him cling to me with fewer complaints from that point on (and even returned back the favor)... Well... my brother was just so cute and I think was developing huge case of brother complex.

xXxXxXx

You know how I said before that this week will be very unpleasant? Well... I think I made that decision too soon (it was happening quite often, wasn't it?).

It wasn't that bad (well there were _moments_ ) and I dare say that I actually enjoyed it a bit. Mother looked very refreshed and when granny apologized to her on the third day, again and this time she truly meant it, she looked positively delighted and hugged the older woman with all of her scary strength. I didn't try to hide my snorts at the awkward face granny made (it earned me a light slap on the head from the older woman. Totally worth it.).

My relationship with grandma continued to get better after that second day, although we 'fought' most of time (either with neon colored balls, plush toys or with our glares - the last ones were quite tedious battles), it was _fun_ kind of fighting and sometimes we joined forces to battle against Izuku and gramps with mom playing referee.

After this one week our stamina increased quite bit because we could play longer day after day. Thought our sleeping habits were certainly totally overturned as we always crashed on the nearest person, sometimes on each other after battle and slept for hour our two and at night it was always pain in the ass to try to fell asleep again – for me at least, bro was out as soon as he dropped his head on the pillow. Lucky guy.

I had some moments with gramps too but they were lesser than with granny as apparently he always wanted son but sadly they were only blessed with two daughters (it was quite shock to find out that mom had an older sister) so to compensate he was set on pampering our 'man of the house' as he liked to say. I didn't really mind as he didn't treat me any lesser than my brother he just spent more time with him so they could 'bond as a men' whatever that meant. And truthfully while I quite liked him, sometimes he looked at me with this reaaaally creepy look that caused me to feel like I was some kind of specimen under microscope. Not something that made me feel comfortable as you one could imagine.

Thus week ended in the blink of eye and it was time from our grandparents to set sails.

So on the day of departure I sat on the floor next to Izuku as adults said their goodbyes and other pleasantries a bit further from us. I had bored expression on my face while I pated my brother's back as he sniffled into his sleeves.

Really bro, it was not like we won't ever see them again, they've already said that next year it will be us who will visit them so I don't really get the fuss (okay I may have get it a little but hey it was better if there was only one upset child).

As adults finished their talk, their turned to us and I furrowed my brow in the way I always did when I needed to think deeply about something. This time it was about what we were supposed to do in this situation. Should we wave at them or something? Luckily my brother was 'toddler of action' and he waddled over to our grandparents to hug their legs before I could do something that probably wouldn't be normal for small child. He no doubt got his snot all over their clothes too… ugh not nice image, at all.

He was promptly picked up by grandpa who then proceeded to cuddle him to death all the while emitting weird squealing noises that were of course totally 'manly'. Yeah... I was _really_ glad I didn't have to be present for their 'bonding time'. Then after he finished saying his goodbyes to my brother (who looked quite cheered up after the cuddling... he wasn't _that_ happy when _I_ comforted him... I was _not_ jealous.. totally _not..._ ) he handed him over to his wife who stretched her hands in front of her and held him in the air all the while whispering something to him... why did get Lion king's vibes just now...?

Meanwhile I was approached by gramps who lifted me off the ground and thankfully didn't start to cuddle me, instead he only lightly pressed me to his chest and patted me on my back. It was... nice and because I was feeling a little bit sentimental in that moment, I stretched my hand to his chin and... slapped him (it was meant to be pat, I swear! Damn this uncooperative body of mine). I looked with horror-filled eyes at my disobedient hand.

The chest under me started to rumble and shake as the old man started to laugh at my misfortune. I may have sported light blush as I sent sour look at his laughing face above me. Here I was trying to be nice and all. Screw you old man, no more pats for you.

My sour mood certainly wasn't improved by him patting my head apologetically. I was not a dog who could be consoled by a pat!

Thus by the time I was passed over to granny I wasn't really in a mood to behave nice, so I just stared at her, clearly not impressed as she lifted me into air like she did my brother. Was this some kind of ritual or what?

She didn't whisper anything and just looked. Okay so another battle of glares? I am all game. I narrowed my eyes.

She chuckled and closed her eyes with a shake of her head and then looked mirthfully at her husband who returned the amused look. Um, what. Did I miss something or what? Slow down with the silent communication a bit.

Wait.

Shit. Was that grandpa's power?! Telepathy or something?! I looked at the man in alarm, however his expression didn't change when I thought that. So... no telepathy? I certainly hoped that that was the case, but then if he really did read my mind he certainly would be more... wary of me or something, right? But wait communicating with thoughts and reading one's mind doesn't necessarily have to be in one package, right?! He could only have the 'communication' part… Hopefully.

Apparently not noticing my inner crisis they continued to silently communicate with each other until I was suddenly moved out of the air and into the warm embrace of granny who gently tussled my hair and whispered into my ear.

"You are quite headstrong little lady. It's a good feature to have if you know how to use it. I hope you continue to use it well to... _light_ lives of this family," she smirked at the end as if she made the greatest pun.

I just stared, bewildered, at her. Uuuuh... what? I think I was lost again. What should I do with the family? Please again and more comprehensibly?

I continued to try to decipher the meaning of her cryptic words even as I was placed next to mom. I distractedly grabbed her pants to stay upright when I felt that my feet touched the ground.

And like that they left, leaving behind dejected adult woman, sniffling toddler and totally perplexed adult-child.

xXxXxXx

Few weeks after the departure of our grandparents life was back on track where nothing really interesting or live-changing happened anymore (thank god I don't think I could survive _another_ surprise). Well if you didn't count sudden interest my brother had in emitting weird quack-like sounds.

I blame the fairytale that once was on TV. It was about a duck, who with his faithful friend horse (what the hell?!) was on quest which purpose was saving a duck-princess from the clutches of an evil human... I think the author of this fairy tale was high or something when he made it. At least it made me laugh a little.

Although _now_ my brother will not stop quacking and bothering me to play the horse. I will not neigh, not a chance. I think it was enough that our mother played along and quacked back when she played the duck-princess.

"Nee-chaaaaan... pweaaase?"

"No."

"Pweaaaaaaaseeee"

Not even with your puppy-eyes bro. I was already quite immune to them. Nice try though.

"NO."

... Silence...

Then...

*Random quacking sounds*

Oh god... there it was again. I was starting to think that I was the sanest person in this house and that was saying something about sanity of the other two.

Just as I was thinking about disadvantages and advantages of either leaving him alone in the living room to play with his plush duck or stay and try to persuade him to play with something better, my choice was instantly made thanks to the sounds my mother made in the kitchen where she was preparing snacks for us.

*Another random quacking sounds, this time from ktichen*

' _Fuck this shit. I am out.'_

xXxXxXx

"Nee-chan! Nee-chan! Nee-chan! Look! Look!"

I was laying on a carpet of our shared bedroom when my brother stormed into the room. He was quite hyperactive kid and even I with my constantly bored adult mind that wanted stimuli couldn't often keep up with him. How mom managed to do it was a mystery to me.

"Hmmm? What?"

I stopped my eyes from following a fly that flew in and laid them on my brother's excited form. Further inspection of him didn't point anything out of the norm except for the small package in his hands that seemed to disrupt his standing balance. I signed, knowing that with him here it would be impossible to rest. I sat up and patted the place next to me.

He took the invitation instantly and plopped himself onto patted place, placing the package in front of us. He was certainly very interested in what was in it and it sparked some curiosity in me too so I send him questioning look that was soon disrupted by my mouth stretching into yawn. I frowned at my own body's interruption but I knew it was unavoidable as I didn't sleep well last night. It was one of those nights in which my dreams were plagued with not-so pleasant things. Fortunately these nights started to be pretty uncommon as the days passed so they weren't that big of a problem now. Still they were pain in the ass.

I was broken from my thoughts by light tap on my furrowed forehead. I blinked and looked at the pouting face few inches from mine.

"Neeeeee-chaaaaan! Present! Present!"

I placed my hands on both of his cheeks and pushed him out of my personal space a bit. He made an annoyed sound but didn't fought against the pushing. Once I deemed the distance good enough I turned back to the small package that was wrapped in dark orange paper and tied by simple yellow string.

Our birthdays were still few months away so what was this?

As if summoned by my question our mom entered the nursery and moved to sit on the carpet opposite of us.

Okay, so from what I understood it was a present from grandpa who was in Tokyo because of his work. He decided to send us souvenirs from there and a letter to ask how we were doing (though I wonder why he didn't just call?). When I asked mom what kind of work grandpa did (of course in simpler curt words) she told me that she didn't know exactly, too, but that it had to do something with quirks, science and things like that. Well that certainly didn't tell me a lot. But hey I could always ask on our next visit.

We opened the package and in there was... Food. More precisely sweets.

...

Well certainly that was not what I imagined and by how my twin proceeded to walk into corner and sulk there, he didn't either.

However...

 _Crunch. Crunch._

As I continued to chew and nibble at sweet pink thing in my hands I couldn't really say that I minded. After all I always had fondness for sweets

xXxXxXx

I critically observed my work.

We visited park which name I didn't really bring myself to remember. After our mother set blanket on the ground we proceeded to have small picnic under the shade of bloomed Sakura tree.

From what I picked up, this was some sort of tradition named Hanami, where families and friends went sit under Sakura trees to... I don't know exactly why they were doing this; it probably has something to do with celebrating the arrival of spring.

It was probably pretty important celebration too as we weren't only family who decided to visit this particular park. No, in fact, it was pretty crowded here. I was just glad that we had our small tree for ourselves and nobody was interrupting my efforts in finishing my life's masterpiece. Even though it currently looked more like tangle of colors instead of wonderful picture I envisioned in my head, I was sure that just little change there and here and it will look just like I wanted.

Mom, who was sitting next to me and eating sandwich, nodded sagely at my explanation and encouraged me to continue doing my life's work. She even helped me in picking up the right color to continue to draw with when I had trouble to choose.

Izuku was a little ways from us in crouched position fixedly studying something on the ground. Probably some kind of bug, boys liked those horrendous creatures, right? Well he could look at it them he wanted, but whatever he may want to do with them after he looked enough... just don't bring it close to me bro.

"Nee-chan, look at this!"

...Shit...

I've never climbed up the tree so fast.

xXxXxXx

It was start of a July and we were supposed to be on our way to our grandparent's house. However unfortunately grandpa fell ill and it was decided that the visit should be postponed to another year. They will try to visit for few days throughout the year but it wasn't one hundred percent certain that they will come.

I was... certainly saddened by that, but not as much as Izuku who cried for a whole hour after which he sulked in his corner in the room. I tried to cheer him up by playing with him but it didn't help much.

In the end what cheered him up was when mom told him that on next day we were going to visit aquanarium to celebrate her birthday, that was on 4th of July by the way. Of course I had to force her to tell me that and after that _force_ her _again_ into celebrating it.

Seriously, such complicated mother I had, of course I wouldn't change her for anyone.

Next day was very nice. I quite liked the interior of the aquanarium as everything was in shade of blue that I liked best (I think the right name for the color was sapphire?). Of course I liked other things too, like, sharks. I had silent stare down with this tiny cute shark, from which I emerged (oh emerged... nice pun there) as a winner, because one of his friends bumped into him, which forced him to lose eye-contact with me. I was pretty smug for the remainder of the day as this was my first victory in this life. I think I will go back there soon because I was sure my new friend will want a rematch.

I think Izuku made some friends there too as these brightly yellow colored little fishes became absolutely rabid when he neared their tank and flocked theirs side of the glass as they pushed each other to be near him.

He looked pretty stunned by that and he wasn't the only one as the whole aquanarium looked agape at the display. I think they even debated if he didn't have power allowed him to speak with fishes or something. It was all so hilarious that I just stood on the side laughing my ass off. Sure, I admit that it _was_ a little weird but as I was used to freaky things happening around me... I didn't even think this was something to be alarmed of.

xXxXxXx

Eleven days later it was the day of our birthdays and this year there was only one present for both of us as it was very costly one. It was decided that for our birthday we would be given a new bed. _Actual bed_ and not a crib.

I was pretty excited and my brother was too, because for him it meant that he was 'big boy' now - his words not mine. I hid my chuckles behind my hand when he said that because, no brother, you have so much growing before you could be called 'big boy'.

And yes I said bed and not beds as it was bunk bed we picked in the end. It was made from dark brown wood and was really simple in design. I immediately reserved the upper bed because no, I didn't believe that my _hyperactive_ and sometimes clumsy brother _wouldn't_ kill himself when climbing up. He didn't speak with me for a whole ten minutes after that, but in the end forgot why he was angry in the first place and was back to chatting to me excitedly about some kind of bug he found last Saturday. Eeew

We chose some new bed sheets for us when we were at it too. For me it was dark blue one with white fluffy sheep on it. I instantly fell in love with that one; it was pleasant to touch too. My brother chose light blue with frogs on it. He had this stage where he was awestruck by bugs and frogs. Seriously... at least I vetoed the one with bugs on it. I would have _burned_ that one if it was bought.

So it was arranged that the bed will be constructed in our room at the day of our birthday. The cribs were hid in the cellar by the worker from the furniture store too, because they were too heavy to be carried by mom alone. Though I did wonder why she didn't use her power on it... Was it only limited to light things?

After the worker left we instantly came to check the new furniture in the house. As my brother flopped himself into his soft mattress on the low bed I carefully climbed up the ladder and was pleasantly surprised to find that I quite liked the height I was in. I was worried before that it would make me feel ill or something. The mattress was heavenly too.

Before I forgot, I hung up my cat charm at the corner of my bed, then sighing in content I continued to laze around as rays of sun warmed my skin. I rested on the soft mat and concentrated on my brother's happy chatting that was sometimes interrupted by mom's light giggle. The charm jiggled gently in a wind that came from the opened window.

 _'Man, I love my life.'_

* * *

The end~

It's nearly midnight where I am and I totally forgot what I wanted to write here, so you will not have any trivia today. Except the one where granny says 'light the lifes' did you see what I did there? Yes? No? Big hint: Kou-chan's name means light... so... yeah. It was meant to be pun or something.


	6. Friendship is born

Hi!

In this chapter our duo will meet our dear Kacchan. I tried to make his character believable and the like, but let's be honest - he is only two-three years old and his quirk didn't manifest yet, so he isn't so… explosive? Hah… his quirk just wants to be used in puns.

 _Quote: "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis_

* * *

I looked in boredom at the screen of TV where was some silly commercial in which was someone in ridiculous looking suit and quirk (apparently that was how magic/superpowers were named there... weird) that allowed him to stretch his limbs to an impossible lengths... Huh, interesting. Not.

It was maybe interesting the first time I saw it, but repeatedly? What a bore.

'Well at least somebody is enjoying himself...' I mused as I looked at my younger twin (ha! I asked mom some time ago who is younger… turns out I am older by few minutes, I'll soooo use it against my brother in the future) who was currently trying to mimic the person in the suit but his moves more resembled a badly learned Macarena dance.

I smartly let this thought to myself though as Izuku could hold grudges pretty long and if he was angry at me, he wouldn't give me his serving of strawberries that we would be have with pudding today as a snack. And I was sucker for strawberries thus I couldn't let that happen.

Therefore instead of teasing him I turned my head to watch TV where this time was an advertisement on some kind of drink 'only true heroes' drank. What a load of crap.

Still...Heroes, huh?

I saw that coming with all these superpowers and shit. Villains, heroes and probably something between were things here. Although I didn't see a lot of villains in television (except for when they were arrested - there was a lot of these scenes on TV), however every the ones I saw were pretty dumb. Like what was point of stealing something in broad daylight, right under noses of heroes? Of course you will be caught; you dumb stupid excuse of a villain. I want villains similar to Joker or Fantomas or... I don't know! Seriously, seeing their poor efforts on TV made me pity them. Me. They were _that_ pitiful.

And don't let me start my rant on heroes... There was so much of them and you could find any information about any hero on the internet. What was a point of 'secret identities' then?

It made me wonder if they didn't confuse word 'hero' for 'mascot' or 'community service'. Now I didn't have anything against them... just when I hear word 'hero' I have an image of a person, who wasn't flaunting his/her ability to help - he/she just did it without wanting anything in return, sometimes even losing something in a process (like eye, leg or... life). And he/she didn't need any super power to do it, too. Like what the hell, you have flashy ability so you decided to play hero? I call bullshit... But hey, this was my world now and I'll have to adapt and accept this new beliefs...

I think I was adapting quite well though. Few times I was even persuaded to join Izuku and mom in game of 'pretending to be hero'. It usually consisted of mum playing 'damsel in distress', Izuku being the hero who saves her and me either his sidekick or villain. My role depended largely on how my mood was on that day. Usually sour, thus I played villain.

I was totally convicted that my acting became so good after playing the 'baddie' so much that my 'maniacal laugh' became quite... unsettling. Heh, well... it wasn't like I decided to exploit my new ability whenever I liked to relieve myself of boredom... nooot at all.

"Fuhe…"

Izuku stopped his dance when he heard the sound I made. With both hands in the air and legs spread wide from each other, he looked quite comical. Then, he slowly turned to face me, look of dread on his face.

"N-n-nee-chan?"

Oh god, this was so amusing, why didn't I do this sooner? Oh yeah, my maniacal-laugh skill wasn't fully developed. I smirked devilishly, seeing my expression, drops of sweat started to form on his forehead.

All the more reason to abuse it more now, wasn't that right?

"Fuhehehehehehehehe..."

He turned around and dashed away with me hot on his heels.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Kaa-san! Nee-chan is in her villain mode agaaaaain!"

"Sounds like you are having fun then."

"No it does nooooot."

"Fuhehehe."

xXxXxXx

It was spring again and I could finally go out without the worry that I would freeze over. Of course spring wouldn't start without the tradition of welcoming spring... so cherry tree, here we go again...

I expected this years Hanami to go same way as last, but sadly just as I was about to open my sketchbook to try to became Picasso of this world, Izuku bumped his shoulder against mine. I looked questionably at him. What was this little devil up to now?

He gave me his best puppy-eyes and I instantly became fully alerted. This wouldn't be one of his usual shenanigans, this one will be big.

He stretched his hand and pointed towards something behind me. I shot him suspicious look, but turned to look anyway. Then I face-palmed. Kids. No wait, let me specify that: _kids our age._

I faced my brother again and raised one eyebrow while doing 'shoo' motion with my hand. If he wanted to play, I sure as hell wasn't against it. However from the looks of it, this wasn't exactly what he wanted as he started to tug at my purple T-shirt. I narrowed my eyes. Hell no boy, I wasn't going near them, one brat was enough, thank you very much.

My twin was not deterred by my glare though and continued to point towards group and tug at my T-shirt. I was not impressed by his silent communication. I turned my head away and did good job of ignoring his efforts of making me socialize for a few seconds, until mom noticed my struggle and decided to hopefully save me from my insistent brother.

"Oh! You want to make friends? That's great! Here, take these sweets, too." Or not…

She shoved bowl of sweats into my hands and then pushed both of us towards a platoon of devils.

' _W-what?! Mom?!'_

With horror in my eyes I looked from treats in my hands to my brother happily tugging me towards my demise and eventually my eyes landed on the group of snot-nosed beings _. I wasn't mentally prepared to face them._ Holy shit one of them had literal _snot_ falling down from his nose.

You can't do this to me?!

I turned around to express my desperate wish for rescue to my parent. When she saw me looking, she sent me wave with one hand while she held a _fucking camera_ in the other. Oh god did she plan to record this too?! You... you traitor!

Where were all those damn heroes when you need them?!

...

And that was how I got in this situation: standing beside my brother as he excitably talked with winged-brat (probably son of the guy thanks to whom I realized I was not in my first world anymore) and other annoying brats scrutinizing me with curious eyes. Or maybe they were eyeing bowl in my hands. Yeah, that was probably it.

Suddenly I had this super smart plan.

"Sure, have some," I said, but instead of holding the bowl myself, I gave it to my brother and then with satisfaction I observed as other kids jumped at the offer and rushed toward treats like a pack of hyenas towards dead animal.

' _Aaah, sweet revenge...'_ I thought with smirk as I slowly unwrapped a chocolate candy I seized before and put it my mouth. Was it just me, or was taste better from normal?

...

After everyone had their share and bowl was empty I took it from hands of my ruffled brother who sent me an accusing glare. I smiled sweetly at him and mouthed 'payback'. His glare intensified and I just whistled innocently.

"Whoa! That's so cool! How are you doing that?"

I stopped my whistling when amazed face of annoying brat number one was pushed too closely in to my personal space. I instinctively shoved him back, with my hand still on his face I raised an eyebrow.

"Doing what?"

Surely they knew how to whistle, right? Wait... they were two to four years old, so maybe not.

"That sound you did before!" proclaimed brat number two. They all started to surround me and my twin (who suddenly looked too pleased with my uneasy twitching - when did my angel became such vindictive devil?!). I started to sweat.

"It's just whistling...? You just curl your tongue and blow air through mouth…"

Okay I suck at explanations, but I didn't know how to explain something I knew how to unconsciously do for more than twenty years...

They did what I told them and... failed. I was not surprised.

"Che, that's nothing hard. I can do it too!"

Suddenly a boy with spiky ash blond hair and red eyes (red eyes… suuuure, okay, not commenting on that) appeared with loud declaration. I blinked at his sudden appearance and tilted my head to better examine him.

He looked like bully in the making with his air of superiority even in the tender age of two-three (I don't think he was older than that), even the way others unconsciously took a step back to made way for him spoke a lot about his personality. I narrowed my eyes - I did not like bullies. Period. Sure he didn't do anything wrong yet, but I could see all too well how his future would look like. He needed to be brought down a peg early on. And luckily I was all too happy to be the one to do it.

"Oh, really? Then show us."

He sent glare my way, easily recognizing tone of my voice. I was daring him and of course, he was too prideful to take back his words now.

Therefore he took large quantum of air in his mouth and when he resembled an eating hamster, he released it in one go.

And ultimately failed to whistle. Just as I expected.

Nobody dared to move or speak as they watched the now silent boy, whose face was totally priceless. His expression looked like mix between 'where did I go wrong' and 'this wasn't supposed to happen'.

My whole body started to shake as I tried to hold in my laughter, though few strangled snorts escaped me.

Ten or more pair of eyes landed on the one who dared to interrupt sacred silence that was bestowed. With all their attention on me, it became too hard to hold it in and in the end I gave up entirely.

"W-what! Don't laugh! You hear! It was just an accident! Just watch as I do a perfect whistle! Pfoooo! Pfooo! Damn?! Pfooo! Pfooooo..? Why it's not working?!"

In the end he just looked so miserable that I didn't have heart to laugh at him more. He was after all a kid and if I continued to laugh it could be considered that _I_ was bullying _him_.

Still chuckling I moved to stand next to the boy who stopped his efforts and glared at me. I smirked and patted him to show my ‚sympathy'.

"Don't worry. I am sure you will be able do it when you get older," I told him with an indulgent smile - not. I was totally making fun of him - and he was aware of that fact as his cheeks reddened and there was smoke going out of his… ears? Huh, weird.

"You…"

The body under my hand started to shake. Others took few steps back, scared by his angry tone of voice, all except for Izuku - he was nervously waving his arms in front of himself (a signal for me to stop teasing already enraged boy, silly brother when did I ever stopped doing what I started?). I was not afraid of the brat - I was few inches taller and thirty years his senior.

"Yes, shorty?"

My condescending tone was meant to be noticeable, so when he spluttered and lunged at me I was already moving out of the way. He nearly lost his footing and fell when his fist met only air, but soon he recovered and was running at me again. I continued to evade his angry fists, however I soon realized that it was just so-so. My stomach filled with dread.

Intuitively I knew that everything I had in my past life (speed, strength, agility and even fucking instincts) was just that - in past, however to really experience it... It was hard blow. My combat skill were my _pride_ , damn it! To lose them just like that... damn, it seems like I have plan for years to come now _\- I will_ get my fighting skills back!

Of course I forgot the second rule (first is: don't turn your back on your opponent) of fighting - always watch your surroundings.

So deep in my mind I didn't notice a hump on the ground and I stumbled on it. With my body so young and uncoordinated I ended up falling. The short boy didn't waste this chance and jumped on me. He took hold of my collar, neared his face to mine and started to yell something to me from close proximity.

Now...I've never played fair. So without any remorse I gathered abundant of spit in my mouth and spewed it right into his eyes. He screamed in disgust and started wipe the liquid from his face with both hands. Taking advantage of the situation I rolled both of us so that it was me this time, who was sitting on him.

His face contorted into scowl when he realized what happened thus before he could do something similar as I did, I started to - well he was child and I didn't want to hurt him- so I just pulled hard at his hair, pinched his visible skin and did other nasty but ultimately harmless things. He started to squirm, shout (I am sure with all his yelling adults will soon come to see what was the fuss about) and overall he tried to take the upper hand. Ha, keep trying squirt.

Then he _bitted_ me.

I stopped all my movements to look at my arm that was held between teeth of the angry child. I slowly moved my sight to gaze into the furious red eyes. My own eyes turned murderous.

' _No more holding back. This shit is dead.'_

Our fight then turned into a full-out brawl.

xXxXxXx

In the end adults had to be brought to separate us. We were then scolded by respective parents and forced to apologize.

Of course we didn't look sorry at all when we said apologies to the other- I was smirking proudly, when I saw his ruffed appearance (conveniently ignoring that I looked just as bad) and he looked as if he was forced to eat lemon.

Adults then apologized to each other and after that we all went home, where I was scolded again - without any reservations this time. Throughout all of that Izuku was fussing over me and my wounds. I smiled lazily at him to calm him down, however it had quite the opposite effect as he screamed in shock and nearly fainted.

Apparently I lost a tooth.

xXxXxXx

I thought that after fiasco that was our first meeting, our parents would make sure to never let us have contact with each other. That wasn't the case though. Instead they decided to do 'play date thing' - supposedly so that we could acquaint better and clear animosity that was born between us.

I was not amused and judging by sour expression of the boy, he wasn't too.

Izuku though... he was radiating happiness when we relocated to our room so that he could show older boy his toy collection.

"And this- this is bear I sleep with. My father brought it before I was born. Nee-chan has on too, but brown."

I smiled softly at my cute brother. If I knew he wanted friends so badly I would have forced myself to meet other kids sooner, so that he could meet somebody. Well I still could do that later - in no way I would allow Izuku to 'befriend' this shitty kid. He would probably treat Izuku badly.

As if to prove my point the boy kicked one of the toys that were placed before him by my brother.

"The hell. I don't care about any of your shitty toys."

"But... Katsuki-kun..."

"When did I allow you to speak to me so familiarly?!"

Oh hell, no. You will not raise your voice at my brother and make him cry.

"Oy! Don't yell at my brother!"

"Haaa? Don't order me around, you hag!"

"Hag?!"

"Yeah! You look like one!

"You little..."

In the end it was really no surprise that our parents had to be fetched again by worried Izuku.

xXxXxXx

It happened again...

We were in a sandbox, building one big castle and failing because we were uncoordinated and repeatedly got into the way of the other.

"Look out Kacchan! Your side is falling!"

"I fucking know! And what the hell?! How did you call me?"

Katsuki's swearing vocabulary gradually expanded because of me... hmm maybe he wasn't such a lost cause and could be taught.

"Don't use bad words! I called you Kacchan... we see each other almost everyday and you two already use nicknames, so I just thought..."

Aaw Izuku you are such sweat heart. Don't know if hag and shorty can be considered nicknames you had in mind... but sure. And you don't need to explain yourself to that mean boy, you can do whatever you want, even call him... Kacchan... Pff

"Pffft-hahahahahaha. Kacchan! Hahahaha. Is that a shortened version of Katsuki-chan?! Hahahaha. Good job, Izuku!"

"D-don't laugh, you hag!"

"Hahahahaha! I think it suits you perfectly, shorty!"

"You... I am not that short!"

xXxXxXx

And again...

We were on birthday party... On Bakugou fucking Katsuki birthday party. Seriously, why was I invited? It wasn't like I and he were friends (we were more archenemies if I had to liken our relationship to something). I could understand Izuku. He somehow - to my absolute horror- came to like Katsuki and was becoming more and more immune to his angry outbursts. And Bakugou with all his yelling and swearing at my brother... I realized that he was all bark and no bite when it came to my twin. I was blindsided, because when the fuck that friendship thing happened (maybe at the time I was out, training my body... but it were just two hours a day?)? My horror and dismay aside, I could do nothing but to question my brother's choice in friends, now that it happened.

So yeah, I could understand Izuku.

But me...? With how all our meetings ended, I would think that they would be sensible enough to not invite me. Was it just because I and my twin came in one package? That was probably it...

There were other kids too. I recognized the one with wings - his father made quite an impression on me after all. But others? Nah... let's just name them: brat number one, number two... you get the rest.

Surprisingly nothing happened for most of the party. It probably had to do with the fact that I dumped present from me onto a pile formed by other gifts and then shuffled towards a table where sweets were placed. Then I hid under the table with plentiful of them.

In no way I would be forced to socialize, not after what happened when I did that before - I didn't want more archenemies, thank you very much.

I made sure to appear sometimes, especially when one of adults walked into the room to check on us. Didn't want them to force me out of my hiding spot after all.

And Izuku... bless the boy made sure to check on _me_ from time to time. He didn't make me come out though and I gave him kiss on forehead for that - the plus was that it made him giggle and giggling Izuku was just a sweetest thing ever.

I said for 'most of the party' before didn't I?

Well there was sleepover... so I had to go out from under table and to my assigned sleeping place...

It was quiet for a while as everyone pretended to sleep to throw off Bakugou's parents (other adults went home around the time of supper).

Then it was time for sleepover playing... I just wanted to sleep, honestly. But it was not meant to be.

One of kids (number three or number five - didn't care which one) decided to stand over me and when I glared up at him to let him know that his scrutiny was unwelcomed, he gasped. I seriously didn't know what his problem was.

"Whaaat. You are that dumb girl from playground! The girl who made fun of Katsuki-kun!"

He remembered me. Nice. Mystery solved. Now, could you let me sleep...?

Apparently not and soon others were summoned by the ruckus and came to surround me. Like seriously? Nobody realized that fact sooner? And where was that amazement that was directed at me when I whistled? Geeze... this was the reason why I wasn't good with kids. They were so unstable with their feelings and moods (and I was a woman, I knew a thing about that).

Izuku tried to ease situation but he made it only worse as after that their attention wasn't only on me but on _him_ too. That made me see red, I didn't mind few haughty words and mean gazes _, but don't you dare insult my brother!_

Then Bakugou decided to cut in with his arrogant attitude and cocky words.

And I just... next thing I knew I was wrestling with him on the ground.

... few hours later after we were moved to separate rooms and I slept out of my rage I realized that maybe, just maybe, he was edging me on with purpose and that he wanted to help in his own messed up way.

xXxXxXx

I think you get the point. One would think that if something happened again and again and again, then clever person would learn from it and stop doing that... I don't even know why they were still doing it.

What _I knew_ , was that me and Katsuki were not getting along. At all.

That didn't stop our parents though. No. They just continued with 'play dates' with the hope that our animosity would one day just disappear.

Funny thing was - it didn't! Wohoo!

And then one day...

...

"Say Kacchan... What is your favorite flavor?" asked Izuku as he slowly ate his mint flavored ice cream

We were in park, sitting on bench and eating frozen desserts created in heaven. It was around month after the whole 'birthday incident' as I decided to call it.

"I told you to stop calling me that! And vanilla of course...Why would I choose this flavor if it wasn't my favorite?"

"You are dumb enough to choose the one you like the least," I remarked with smirk. I was only teasing, of course. I knew all too well how smart the boy next to me was (to my growing irritation I was the slowest one... Japanese language, I hate you!)

"What was that?! You want to fight?! Huh, huh?!"

"Hmmm? With a shorty like you? Nah, that would feel like I was picking on you..."

I gave my ice cream to Izuku, knowing what would follow - I wouldn't dare to waste strawberry ice cream after all.

"You..."

And suddenly Izuku had in hands not one, not two, but three ice creams. Poor boy almost wasn't able to hold all three at the same time.

He was so easy to rile up... I do wonder though when did I start to enjoy our fights so much.

It was only after we stopped our brawl because we were too tired and out of energy to continue, that we noticed that nobody tried to separate us. They didn't even look our way. Was our fighting so regular that others just over look it, now?!

I and my opponent looked at each other in bewilderment, for once our emotions and thoughts completely in sync. Then we turned to look at happy Izuku who was almost done with ice-creams that were given to him - all that remained was cone of a mint flavored ice treat.

"What the fuck?!" we yelled at the same time.

...

... they completely stopped to interfere with our fights.

xXxXxXx

Few days before our third birthday, it was decided that we would prematurely hold small party with Bakougou's (as on our birthday we will be in grandparent's house).

It would be with sleepover... apparently they didn't learn from the past mistakes.

I was just lazing around in front of TV (where another hero with water quirk was extinguishing flame that 'suddenly' erupted in a mall) with Izuku sprawled on top of me (he still didn't grow out of this bad habit of his) when bell rang, signaling arrival of our hosts.

Izuku energetically jumped up and rushed to great his friend. I grumbled, got up from couch and moved towards them at more sedate pace, already knowing this day was just another disaster in the making.

Before I could reach the hall though, my twin was already back in the living room and pushing something into my face. I shoved the thing away and sent him _a look_ at which he sheepishly rubbed back of his head. I rolled my eyes and after light nudge I obediently looked at the thing that was in my face before.

It was a plush.

I tilted my head and examined it more thoroughly.

Correction. It was the plush of All Might - a hero that appeared out of nowhere around two weeks ago. He was impressive I suppose... but Izuku... Oh boy, Izuku was totally obsessed with him. To the point that it was unhealthy and I had to frequently slap his head to wake him up from his day-dreams in which he usually saved someone with All Might.

I was concerned a bit but well... let's hope he would grow out of it?

I was nudged again and when I looked at my brother, he had an expectant expression in his too expressive eyes. I sighed.

"It's... nice?"

"Nice!? IT'S BRILLIANT! Do you see all details the plush have? Those spikes on the head-"

Excuse me but I stopped listening after that. It wasn't like I wasn't interested in what he had to say, but... I really was not.

I was saved by the arrival of my archenemy who as usual had sour looking expression on his face. I sent him smirk that was returned with cocky one. Still not cured, huh?

Before we could start our usual banter, he was bowled over by Izuku, who was crying crocodile tears of gratitude. Katsuki looked annoyed by the bawling boy but didn't push him away. Heh... what was the word again? Tsundere?

I opened my mouth to comment on it, but I closed it with a loud 'clack' when I caught wrapped package that was tossed by the annoyed boy.

I observed it with curiosity and when it didn't hinted its contents I decided to unwrap it. Inside there was new sketchbook with small packcage of colorful crayons. I blinked few times, not knowing how I should react to such a gift.

"I didn't know what to give you... you are always either watching TV, running around or drawing... so I just..."

He didn't look at me so all I saw were his bright red ears. I suppressed the urge to chuckle and instead looked back at the present. I'd hate to say, but I was little touched by his thoughtfulness. I smiled softly; he was such a dork.

"Thank you... shorty."

My gratitude was sincere however I couldn't help but to tease him at the end a little. He turned to me at my words and seeing my smile he slowly smiled too.

"Don't mention it hag."

Aaaaw shit, when did this happen? When did I start to feel such fondness to my nemesis?! I can no longer view him as my archenemy now... what a drag. Will term frenemy suffice?

* * *

Aaaaand~ the end!

Sweet potatoes - I hope that I didn't make anyone too OOC...

About Katsuki/Izuku/Kou dynamic in this chapter... I didn't want for them to be friends from the instantly, because like, I don't think that would be possible as Kou and Katsuki are so similar in some things that it couldn't be helped that they clash. Also Izuku was intimidated at the start - I would be too as Katsuki could be scary as hell -but he gradually got used to him, after all he already had scary sister at home.

Their relationships and behaviors will change as they get older, however you can be sure, that they will be different from cannon.


	7. Be simple in words

Hello!

So this time I managed to write another chapter a little faster, huh? An improvement? Maybe... Aaanyway I don't know when I'll have time to write next one, so just to let you know that there is a possibility of another month-long pause.

And Wild cannon character appears! (hah...that was so bad...) Can you recognize who it is?

 _Quote: Be simple in words, manners, and gestures. Amuse as well as instruct. If you can make a man laugh, you can make him think and make him like and believe you - Al Smith_

* * *

I felt someone poke my side. I frowned slightly and batted the hand away, happy to submerge into the land of dreams again. I had such a nice dream for once, too.

In that dream Izuku was number one hero who was loved by everyone - I was right beside him, his loyal sidekick that always got his back. Katsuki was a hero number two, who sometimes helped us if villains were too much to handle. After another good day of saving the day, all three of us went home where both of our moms prepared our favorite dishes for dinner.

It was nice dream; happy and peaceful (except fights with villains, but they were enjoyable so I wasn't complaining) and I wanted to hold onto it for as long as I could...

"Nee-chan. Neeeee-chan. Wake up. We will soon arrive. And mom gave me candies."

I pouted when I heard those words. That was not a fair play. Not at all.

With a pout still on my face I woke up and blinked few times to get my eyes used to the brightness of the sun and looked up from my lying position to gaze into an amused face of my twin. I stuck my tongue out and still lying in his lap I reached with my hand for a candy that I was promised.

His expression turned sheepish and he rubbed his neck with his _empty_ hand. My stare turned blank as I processed the situation then it turned thunderous when I realized that I was tricked. He started to sweat with alarmed look and before he could try to squirm away I jumped on him and pinned him down on a seat under me. He tried to wiggle out of my grasp but as I was more experienced one in 'fighting' and stronger (my training was progressing well and I would probably need to start limit myself in fights soon or risking danger of seriously harming Katsuki... _or_ I could recommend him to start training with me... hmm), anyway so because of this factors his efforts were futile.

He soon realized that too and looked up at his doom with resigned expression. I cackled my infamous evil laugh and started to tickle him. Tears of laughter gathered at his eyes and he started to laugh loudly

"I am sorry! I am sorry! Nee-chan! Pleaaaaaase!" he squeaked in high-pitched voice between the bouts of laughter. I hummed and raised one eyebrow at him.

"Oh? You are sorry?" I asked teasingly.

His answer was instantaneous.

"Yeeees!"

I smiled slightly at his desperate expression and still sitting on him I looked around to decide my next course of action. We - the two of us and mom - were in a train compartment. Luckily we were the only ones as our ruckus would certainly cause some problems for other passengers. Mom was reading magazine across of us and when she felt my gaze she lifted her head to smile at me. I returned it with a smile of my own.

"How long till our stop?"

She tilted her head in thought and then looked at a watch on her arm.

"I'd say around ten minutes?"

I hummed again. That was still enough time for a little revenge. I looked down at heavily breathing Izuku, put on a sinister smile and cackled evilly. After hearing my evil laugh, he gulped in fear.

I commenced my tickling.

My brother's high-pitched laughter filled the compartment.

xXxXxXx

Mother of the two fondly smiled at the 'fighting duo' and continued to read. She still had some time to learn a secret of how to hang a laundry properly so that it doesn't crease.

xXxXxXx

I hummed happily as I braided my long green hair (well as long as three years old could have). My mother didn't trim my hair like she did with Izuku's (probably for me to look more 'girly' as I refused to wear those frilly 'cute' clothes that she wanted to buy me) so my hair continued to freely grow and now they reached past my shoulders. I didn't mind, I actually quite liked them like that as thanks to the length, my curls weren't that noticeable and I didn't look like a poodle anymore. They were still pretty curly at the ends, but because I braided it regularly, it wasn't really noticeable. Also another reason for my braiding was that when it was windy outside, my hair would be _everywhere_.

I looked to the side at the boy sitting next to me and grumpily looking outside of the bus window, doing his best to ignore me. I fought down a smile that threatened to appear on my face, not wanting to offend him more.

Okay I could have left him off the hook sooner... buuut... he lied to me about a _candy_ , I think that is enough of a reason for ten minutes long tickling. Okay I can admit that my sweet tooth evolved into a slight obsession with sweets and that it may be a little problem if I continued to eat them so much in the future as I did now, but hey my training will be enough for me to not become fat, right?...right?

My brother suddenly turned to me, probably to see if I was looking at him. I didn't expect him to look at me at that moment and as I was partly lost in images of my plump adult self and only partly aware of my surroundings. I was surprised by the sudden attention and when I tried to send him a... I don't know what I tried to send him, now that I thought about it... send him a smile maybe?, it came our more like a constipated grimace.

We sat in a silence as a bus continued its trek across the big city. Then Izuku's face twitched and he hid his mouth behind his hands as his whole body started to tremble. Muffled giggled escaped the shaking boy as I turned my face away from him with beet red ears.

' _That was fucking embarrassing. Why is our grandparent's house so far away?!'_

xXxXxXx

Izuku's happy laughter assaulted my ears as I entered the big house. I rubbed my ear and looked up at the boy spun by the widely smiling old man. I observed two males as I thought about how the older man didn't change one bit, except that he now wore more informal clothing than the one he wore two years ago. And woa, was that really that long? These two years sure fled by quickly. Not at all like that first year where days flew so slowly that I thought I would kill myself out of boredom.

Speaking of our first year I was surprised that Izuku remembered our grandparents at all - he was year old when they visited afterall.

I was distracted from my musing thoughts when somebody put a hand on my head. Already knowing who it was from how petite the hand was I turned around to look up at grandma.

"Yo, granny," I greeted with a smirk, already knowing how irritated she will get because of my laid-back greeting. And sure enough her neutral expression turned into irked one, though her eyes betrayed her slight amusement at my try.

"She didn't teach her any manners at all! One day she will need to be an accomplished and dignified lady. Seriously Inko…" she grumped under her breath but seeing as her husband chuckled and our mother blushed slightly it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Grandpa then put Izuku down and walked over to us to pick _me_ up this time. I shot him a look that clearly expressed how un-amused I would be if he started to spin me around too. He started to laugh loudly and with me still in his arms he turned to address his wife.

"Haha. Don't be so uptight Aihi. She is still very young and I am sure she is just itching to learn proper lady manners from you."

I froze at his words and slowly I raised my head to look at his smiling face that had slight mischievous edge. I… please somebody tell me that I heard wrong. I redirected my gaze to land on the face of granny and I am not embarrassed to say that I paled in fright at her positively gleeful expression.

I wildly looked around to find my mother and when I did I sent her a plea for help through my eyes. When she saw my plea she lowered her head solemnly and started to silently whisper under hear breath. Was she… was she chanting a prayer for me?

Izuku, who stood right next to mom, looked ahead with a grave expression on his face, his posture expressing his mourning for me.

And I… I didn't know if I should cry or laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation but with how my grandma was slowly approaching me I decided for a third option.

I squirmed out of my grandpa's grasps and _ran_ away like my life depended on it.

And seeing as grandma was hot on my heels, cackling in delight in a way that put my evil laugh into shame... I resolutely decided that indeed, my life depended on it.

xXxXxXx

"Straighten up. In your age I managed to stay in this position for three hours. And look at you! Already so strained after sitting in seiza for only five minutes. Good grief, this will be hard," lamented granny as she walked back and forth in the room.

In the end my frantic run was stopped after only ten minutes. Grandma was scarily fast and relentless in her pursuit, but that wasn't my undoing in the end. Nope, it was grandma's quirk. Seriously how was I supposed to know that she could attract people?! I thought it could be used only on inanimate object! And now I had to endure this good for nothing exercise or what the hell it was … seriously it was more torture that anything as my legs hurts like bitch. After only five minutes! And what do you mean three hours?! You are telling me I will sit like this for three hours?!

'Nooooooooooo,' I thought dejectedly. Despairing tears gathered in my eyes.

Seeing my pitiful state, granny sighed loudly and waved her hand. Taking it as a permission to stop this painful sitting I fell into ungraceful heap on the ground of the room. This was crazy; I've never was so tired and devastated, not even after my first day of self-appointed training and I was pretty exhausted that day.

I heard as an older woman clicked her tongue at my current state, and then moved to sit in front of a low table that was positioned in a middle of the room. And she sat in that sitting position _from hell_. She gestured for me to sit opposite of her. I blanched at her gesture. Was I supposed to sit in that… seiza too? Fortunately she snorted and shook her head.

"Don't worry. For now you can sit in a way you are comfortable in."

I sighed in relief and moved to sit at the table too. Though it wasn't without grunts as my stiff legs refused to cooperate.

"Now from what I observed and from what your mother told me; your understating of a Japanese language is quite passable for a child your age. However… your speaking is in desperate need to be corrected to sound more formal and polite. Today we will address that and depending on how you will fare in this lesson, we may or may not continue with it throughout your whole stay here."

I narrowed my eyes. My pronunciation may be sometimes off, but my words were always understood by all. And what was with this 'formal' thing? I didn't want to sound formal, thank you very much.

"My speaking is good! And more importantly, why I am the only one learning this? Why there isn't Izuku too…"

"Ah, that's because you are female of course," she answered lightly.

"What?!"

I glared at her with furious expression. Was this some Japanese sexist shit? If yes, I refused to-

"You are female, thus you are taught by me. Izuku is male and therefore he is learning under my husband."

Ah… that…. makes sense I guess.

My ears turned red as my fury was replaced by embarrassment. Smug look on the older woman's face didn't help one bit.

"Now about how you should speak properly…"

xXxXxXx

I crawled over the table where dinner was being served. Grandma made me do that 'seiza shit' again and again with breaks between. I still didn't get why should I sit like that, I mean wasn't sitting normal way good enough?

I left pondering about evil sitting positions on another time as a plate of food was placed before me. Swiftly I grappled utensils and started to eat with gusto. Half way to my third bite I heard that dreaded sniffling that signalized that Granny was displeased with something. I slowly moved fork (no way in hell would I use those horrendous chopsticks) away from my mouth as I turned around to look at the oldest woman. She smiled serenely at me. I gulped… what the hell did I do this time?

"Say Inko… why is Kou-chan using fork and knife instead of chopsticks?"

"Ah… well she hates chopsticks so…"

"I see… Looks like I will need to rectify this as well," she declared and then without adding anything else she continued to eat.

Oh shit.

I looked down at my bellowed fork, internally saying goodbye to it with grief-stricken expression.

xXxXxXx

Now just to be fair, not all lessons from grandma were horrible… on the five day we were here she led me to the room on the second floor. In that room, there was everything an artist would want. There were wooden stands of various sizes and shapes and in most of them were unfinished paintings that were left to dry or their completion was postponed. Watercolors, crayons, pastels, acryl colors,… there was anything you could draw with.

The biggest eye-catching thing though was the balcony that was as long as an entire wall and from which you could overlook a whole city (grandparent's house was at the outskirts of the city).

I furrowed my forehead as I looked around the room. Why were we here? I turned my questioning look at grandma.

"You clearly hate our lessons and complain at every turn, but you never slack off and you are quite diligent when you do things I order you to do even if they bore you… I can appreciate that. So as I don't want you to have only bad memories of this visit I just thought… I mean… Inko said that you like to draw, and…" she stopped speaking, coughed awkwardly and sent me a _look_ that was saying that I should know what was she trying to say.

I kind of knew and that in turn made me awkward, because it wasn't like I hated the lessons… just… did I really make her feel like I hated them?

I shuffled in place and looked around room one more time. The place looked like it was used regularly as some things looked more worn out that others (like brushes), but even if they were worn out they weren't disposed of or placed aside, no they were carefully placed next to the newer ones.

I slowly walked over to the small stand that was without painting on it. Next to it was a wooden table that has a mug with brushes on it. I chose a random brush and with it in hand I turned around to face the older woman that was observing me with curiosity.

I smiled up at her and stretched a hand with the brush to her.

"So are you going to teach me how is this supposed to be held? _Properly_ I mean?" I asked with a smirk. Well she was trying to shape me into a proper lady, right? I would need to know how to hold a brush like one, right?

The woman in front of me blinked few times but in the end smirked in return and walked over to me to correct my hold.

"Of course, I wouldn't be satisfied with anything less."

I rolled my eyes but didn't comment on it.

Yes, I already know granny.

xXxXxXx

I hummed some random melody under my breath as I continued my regular morning run around the city. My mornings consisted of stretching, doing some exercises that helped my balance and then running (I would do more, but this body of mine was still pretty fragile)

It was already two weeks after our arrival heres, into this large town and every day I gradually increased my running track as I have become more acquainted with the city. It was big city, no way in hell I would ever map it whole, but at the end of our stay (we were here for a month) here I would like to get to know a neighborhood at least three kilometers around grandparent's house (that's the limit my small body can take at the moment as I had to get back as well and by the end of six kilometers I was prone to become huffing mess).

I still had around ten minutes till I got to my self-proclaimed 'milestone' that I set to myself as a place where I stop for today, so I let my mind wander.

I thought back to previous fourteen days. If I didn't count the 'proper lady lessons' that I had to take from grandma in the mornings, after my regular runs (that were surprisingly encouraged by my grandparents) and sometimes even in the evenings, then the days here were pretty entertaining.

We played random games, starting from boring chess (that surprisingly was most enjoyed by mom), through weird card games (this was Izuku's forte… especially the ones in which you had to strategize in order to win) to various ball games (aaaw yes, these games were best).

Then there were times we came to sightsee around city or take a stroll in a forest that was just a five minute walk from the house.

There was always something to do and as a day of departure neared I came to realize that I would really miss this place and my grandparents. But on the other side… I… aaw shit this is so embarrassing, I kind of missed Bakugou too? Surprisingly that short brat really grew on me… and by how Izuku looked at his All Might plushie at night he was missing him too. And it's only two weeks for Pete's sake!

I stumbled a little as I stepped on a small rock in my inattention. I glared back at the damn rock as I stopped running to wipe my forehead by my T-shirt. Damn it's only morning and it's already so hot!

I looked around if there was some shop nearby where I could buy some sweet drink with my allowance money however in that moment I realized something…

…

 _I was lost._

…

 _Shit_

xXxXxXx

. . .Shit indeed.

This… didn't go as planned. When the hell did I get lost? Was I lost in thoughts for so long?! One thought: Shit.

No wait. Calm down. Just go back the same way you run here. In time you will get to the surroundings you know and then it will be a child's play to go back! Yes… just turn around and -

Shit. No... this needs a stronger word: Fuck.

Why was there a _fucking crossroad?!_

Okey… maybe somebody saw me running and I could ask him which road should I take?

I looked around hopefully.

Wind blew and picked up particles of dust as I gazed around the _empty_ street.

"Hahahahaha… ha... ha…," I started to laugh hysterically with a panic rising in my chest.

After few minutes I calmed down to think rationally again.

I could't be so far away from my landmark… I just had to choose the right road. Yes, that was it. Don't panic. Just, keep calm and hum some random song!

I commenced my humming and started to walk over to the crossroad with confident steps. However before I could choose one, my confidence abandoned me in favor of despair that started to surface. What if I chose the wrong one?! I will just be even more lost!

Okay, change of plans. If I chose a bad road I will find somebody and ask him for directions. Surely they will know which way the outskirts are?

Yes that was a good plan.

I glared at the crossroad, hoping that if I glared enough it will help me in my choosing. No such luck, though and in the end I chose one using 'Eeny, meeny, miny, moe'.

Then I walked. And walked. And walked. And for a change - I walked. Pretty awesome, right? Not…

Okay this was bad idea. I probably should've just stayed where I was, but seriously, where was everybody? I know it's still pretty early and Saturday, but not a single soul? Somebody hates me up there, its clear now. This is Japan for Pete's sake... It's not possible for nobody to be out. Maybe I should try to ring a bell on some of these houses? Nah… I rather not.

Just as I was about to break into hysterical laughter again I heard a noise. Finally!

I quickly broke into run. As I got nearer and nearer I realized that it was a sound of laughter and yells. I frowned. What was going on there? I turned around the corner and stopped to lok around.

I was in a park.

Small park with a fountain in the middle and around it were benches and trees in a circle formation. Just next to a mountain was a table - obviously transported here by somebody for some special reason and seeing as all around the table were papers in various states (ripped, soaked, dirtied,…) I reckoned it was some kind of petition against something? Or something similar…

My gaze finally travelled to the source of a sound I heard before. I frowned in disgust at the sight.

I saw five adolescents, no more than twenty years old certainly, standing in a ring around another teenager (I'd say he was around eighteen) who was bound by some bubble-gum-like substance. They were laughing their ass of as they kicked the younger looking boy on the ground. Some of them even used their quirks.

I was too far to hear what were they talking about and honestly I wasn't too set on an idea to go near them to hear… If they decided to beat me up to silence me, I would be an easy target. Sure, I fought almost every day in the past six months or so with Bakugou, so I am not exactly a one to shy away from fights. But. These guys were two times bigger than me, from the looks of it; all of them had quirks and knew how to use them and there was five of them - not exactly a favorable situation for me.

I gnawed at my bottom lip. I hated bullies with passion but I wasn't stupid (well I guess sometimes I was...). I wouldn't be any help if I rushed into this fight, especially when this fight wasn't mine in the first place. I should just turn around and pretend I didn't see anything - he would survive, surely they wouldn't want to have a blood on their hands.

Gah. What is this? Why do I feel so bad? Stupid conscience, from where the hell you came?! It isn't like I didn't to worse things before and in my first life I usually overlooked this shit (or destroyed the fuckers, it depended in what kind of mood I was at that moment) so why do I feel so bad now? He wasn't even somebody I knew! Damn it… I became soft…

I was about to reluctantly turn around - this isn't my problem, don't involve yourself, you are already in big trouble with all this 'lost' shit - but then one of the standing boys shouted something. The content of his yell caught my attention.

"Revival of Heroics? What the hell? Hahahaha! What do you think you can change by doing this?"

Revival of heroic? Interesting. So it was some kind of propaganda or something. I looked back onto the ground and at scattered bits of papers.

I stealthily (as stealthily as a three years old could) moved a little closer to look at the shredded paper nearest to me. There was a lot of those 'funny' characters that Japanese use to write with (I was so not looking forward to learning them) so I didn't understand what was written there, however there were small illustrations here and there that depicted heroes.

'Hmm so there _are_ people, who see heroes differently and don't follow the popular public opinions.'

I looked back from the paper to look at the bound... unmoving body.

Did he... Did he faint?

Cold dread encompassed my whole being. Don't tell me he died?!

Those five bastards stopped an onslaught and looked at the unmoving body too, the bubble-gum-like substance sliding away from the boy and into the hand of one boy.

Then they pushed the said boy forward, probably sending him to check if the guy on the ground is alive.

The chosen one crouched down and hesitantly reached his hand towards the person on the ground. I held my breath as I waited for the reaction.

One second everything was silent and nobody moved.

Then the next one something _unexpected_ happened.

* * *

 _ **~Change of POV~**_

If someone were to describe Fujiwara Aihi in a few words they would say: beautiful, prideful and cold.

Certainly not a family material.

Alas she was pressured into looking for a husband little after starting her second year of high school - of course one of a fine pedigree, just like her.

In the end she chose the lesser of the evils and decided to marry a man she knew had a crush on her for quite some time (reason for that crush was forever a mystery for everyone)

He was easy-going if a little weak-willed man whose family wasn't the richest but was passable enough for her parents. She was afterall only spare heir and woman at that.

Of course others were trying to persuade her husband-to-be saying things like:

 _Do you really want to marry her? Think about your future!_

 _You will totally regret this. She has a feelings of a brick._

 _Buddy, you could do so much better! Why don't you think about it some more?_

She didn't do anything to stop them, instead she waited in silence and wondered if he will broke under their words and terminate their agreement or if he would prevail.

In the end he did broke, but not in the way she expected.

He rose up from his sitting position and took advantage of his height to loom over his 'friends'. Green eyes lost their happy shine and turned cold, colder than hers could ever be. Almost permanent smile was wiped out and replaced by an angry scowl.

As he loomed over the speakers who now shook in fear at his glare. He started speaking. His soft baritone lowered an octave as he silently told them to 'shut up' and 'don't you dare badmouth my future wife ever again'.

It was so out of character for him that nobody dare to speak up anything bad about her after that, afraid of awakening that side again.

She was pleasantly surprised and dare she say... warmed (maybe it was at that moment she started to fall for him?) by his words.

Of course she maintained cool face throughout the whole outburst and only let a small smile grace her features once they were left alone. The sheepish face her fiancé made when he realized what he did was certainly an amusing bonus.

She hummed to herself a little; maybe he wasn't as weak-willed as she first thought (well it was expected, given the type of his quirk, now that she thought about it).

They had wedding few days after they graduated from high school and from that day on she was known as Midoriya Aihi (she never told it a living soul, but a sound of her new name made her a little giddy).

She didn't continue with her studies, instead she stayed at home and took care of the house, as was expected of her from the start. Though if she was being honest, she didn't mind it that much as she had more time for herself and for her hobbies.

Her husband continued in his studies on a prestigious university. Expenses joined with studies (and their everyday needs) were payer by their parents. They continued to sponsor them until the day Manabu found a steady job. Though she certainly didn't agree with his choice, she didn't say anything, because thanks to his work she could finally be free of her family.

They moved away and to the outskirts of the city that was near his work place. The scenery and surrounding was nice, thus she was quite satisfied with the place, especially when she found a lot of good places for painting when she took a stroll through the forest.

Life was certainly better than she imagined when she was first told she will need to marry so young. Her husband was considerate and didn't pressure her into something she didn't want. He always talked with her about possible solutions when problems arose and didn't try to conceal anything - he even told her about his job description even though it was against rules to discuss the work outside of his workplace.

After some time, she herself started to instinctively close the distance that was put forward by her and opened up to him little by little.

In his presence she could let go of the mask that was required of the lady of her status - even if it made her awkward and insecure at times. He didn't make fun of her at those times and instead redirected their attention elsewhere until slowly she started to be comfortable again.

In the end it was on the day she gave a birth to their first daughter that she realized how completely in love she was with her husband.

And she didn't mind that fact. Not even a bit.

Their second daughter was born and then… then things started to get complicated.

Kotone, their first daughter, manifested her quirk. She inherited her husband's quirk and that day after she saw the expression on his face she, for a moment, started to wonder if she knew him at all.

Because at that moment, the expression he had on in his face as he observed their oldest daughter was downright calculating and, again for only a moment of course, she feared for the safety of their children. However as soon as that expression appeared it instantly vanished and instead was replaced with determined frown.

She continued to observe him silently, but stopped when he placed his hand over hers and words resonated through her head.

 _Don't worry..._

 _I will protect them._

She leaned into him heavily and squeezed his hand. She knew that, however there were things even he couldn't protect their daughters from.

They continued to live in a same way as before, however their daughter's quirk continued to remind her of possibility that one day somebody will come and take away her daughters.

Then Inko manifested her quirk and it was Aihi's, to the relief of both parents.

And after that... well Aihi will be the first one to admit that they started to place their second daughter into background. They were beside themselves with worry about what will happen to the older that they sometimes forgot that they had second (and, in the first place, Aihi really wasn't a good mother material).

They both didn't realize it in that moment; Inko was quiet and sweet child who never begged for attention, because she didn't want to burden her parents. However even a sweetest of children would feel bitter if they were neglected for long enough and she soon started to resent them for their innatention.

Only after older of the sisters left, parents feeling low and dispirited after her departure, turned after so many years their full attention on the younger. However after being left in the background for so long she couldn't find it in herself to let go of her bitter thoughts and gap between them started to increase and increase, until one day Inko moved away without a word.

Few years later, she started to regret her decision of not saying at least goodbye that day. And after meeting her husband, whose encouragement gave her enough courage, she called them.

However it was only after twins were about to celebrate their first year, doubled with a want of some other adult company (being an only parent for most of time made her quite lonely) that she had enough of a an excuse to meet her parents again.

(and in a parallel world where Kou was stillborn, their first meeting after years of not seeing each other, would simultaneously be their last, Izuku being too shy to intervene without the push of his sister)

* * *

Aaaand~ cut!

Ho... this chapter was quite fun to write, especially that 'lost' part... It's from personal experience, too, though in my case I at least had a friend with me...

Heh, anyway... actually I don't have anything to say ... thus...


	8. Act of Kindness

Hello!

I've never thought that this fanfiction would be so well liked and each follow/favorite/review made me so happy but at the same time it made me feel guilty that I still didn't update it. So... here it is. It isn't perfect. But, it's the best I could do with my little block. And this FF finally moved, too, that's great too.

I started with rewrite early... so Theo/Izuku plot-line is officially changed. Nobody chose 'No' in poll so... And number of chapters changed!

Also... Kou-chan may be a little different in this chapter. I didn't read previous chapters and just decided to write her how I imagine her to be with new plot-line in mind.

 _Quote: "Acts of Kindness: A random act of kindness, no matter how small, can make a tremendous impact on someone else's life." - Roy T. Bennett_

* * *

' _Well… this was certainly surprising,'_ I thought as I looked around at the five unmoving bodies. Further inspection proved that they were still breathing, thus whatever, I didn't care about them anymore. Instead I set my sight on the standing teenager.

It all happened so fast. One moment he (the standing teenager) was lying on the ground, next he had a knife in his hand with which he slashed lightly at his opponents and then… ingested their blood. Ugh, well, I didn't have problem with blood, but ugh, disgusting. Anyway, once he drunk someone's blood, that person just… fell down and stopped moving. I made an educated guess that they didn't decide to just lay down themselves, but that it had something to do with that guy's quirk. What a morbid and unpractical quirk, just think about all those diseases you could get if you always had to digest blood of your enemies for your quirk to activate…

In any case, after all five of them fell down, he made sure to hit them at the back of their heads to make them unconscious as apparently they were still conscious after whatever that guy's quirk did to them.

I tilted my head, my gaze still lingering at the heavily breathing individual. If he could defeat them so fast, why didn't he do that sooner? Was he waiting for the best possible opportunity or what?

Before I could ponder on that thought more, the teenager before me sighed tiredly and then started to move around park, gathering scattered papers.

He didn't pay me any attention; he probably didn't even register me, I was small and all.

I tapped my chin in thought. Should I help him? It wasn't like I had any obligation to do it in the first place. I could just slip away without him even knowing I was here. Once I did that, I could continue in my search for people and… nah, my family was probably already worried about my whereabouts. The sooner I'll get home, the better. And no, there wasn't any other reason why I stepped forward and started collecting those posters. There wasn't.

The teenager made surprised noise when he finally registered that there was another human being in the near vicinity. He jumped in place and looked at me warily, though he didn't try to attack me or something, so I counted that as a win.

"Who…?" he asked in confusion. I sent him irritated frown and instead of answering him I continued to pick numerous papers on the ground. The sooner they would be gathered, the sooner I could go home. He continued to look at me for a few more minutes, but after that I heard him mutter something to himself and then he continued in his activity from before.

Around ten minutes later, in which one of those guys had to be hit on the head again as he started to wake up – I had pleasure of doing it this time as I was nearest, it was very fulfilling, also _the look_ that that blood-drinking guy sent me after I hit the guy on the ground was hilarious – but overall nothing happened and we were finally finished with collecting.

I heaved my small pile on top of a bigger pile that the guy collected with a grunt. I nearly fell back after I got rid of those papers so suddenly. The hand on my back stopped me from fall and at the same time steadied me. I looked up at the owner of the hand, unsurprised of who it was.

"So now that we have it out of the way. Will you tell me who you are?" asked teenager I was helping just seconds ago.

I hummed noncommittally and stepped away from him a little, not liking how close he was. I disliked when people came into my personal space without asking and even then it was a big no-no.

Once I was satisfied with distance I turned my gaze back on the teenager, who was steadily becoming more and more aggravated with my lack of response. Knowing full well, how irritating I was at that moment, I smirked and instead of answering him right away I decided to examine him thoroughly.

The man was very tall, easily towering over my small figure. He had black spiky hair that were pointed into all directions, they reminded me a little of grandpa's hair- but his were curled, this guy's hair were sharp at ends. His face looked average enough: pointy chin, long cheeks, nose was a little on small side, but nothing too oblivious. The only thing that was little abnormal were his blood-shot black eyes, but then again, in this supernatural world, who really cared about small details like these? Anyway I had nothing to comment on his attire, except that he wore normal black-blue T-shirt and gray trousers.

Once I was done with my observations I finally spoke to the teenager before me whose face now resembled a tomato with how angry he looked.

"Didn't anyone teach you to say your name first, before asking for someone's?" I asked in a lazy tone, fully enjoying the dumbfounded look the boy now wore. It was always funny how strangers reacted to a small child that was able to speak so well. At least one good thing came from socializing… It was pity though, that their shock only lasted for a while, after which they got used to my weirdness.

Deciding that I really needed to get home soon I continued to speak after I enjoyed his expression enough.

"I guess, I will forgive you this time as I am quite short on time. My name is Midoriya Kou and I need you to show me which way is Mahoroba Bakery," I said curtly. I didn't say it as a request but a fact, because he was obligated to do it – I helped him with collecting, he will repay me with telling me where to go.

He looked astounded with my rude behavior, open mouth and all. I shuffled in place, maybe I could've put that a little better? Just thinking about what hell would fall upon my head if grandma ever heard about this made me almost take those words back. Almost.

Instead I decided on a compromise and added a reluctant "Please?" after short pause.

This made him snap his mouth with a loud clack, and God was I glad, his teeth looked pretty creepy. He looked me up and down and then raised on of his black eyebrows.

"You lost kid?" he asked slowly as if afraid to offend me. And maybe he would, in any other situation, but it was true, so whatever.

"Yep. And you owe me. So. Where it is?" I asked again, getting impatient. I didn't want so much! It was tiring to gather those papers; the least he could do was to tell me where to go.

He tilted his head thoughtfully and then turned around and started to walk away, waving his hand in a 'follow me' gesture. I raised my eyebrow this time. He would lead me there? I shrugged, whatever, less work for me and my brain I suppose.

I started to run after him and once I reached him, I slowed to walk in same pace as the teenager beside me. We walked in silence through narrow streets as I tried to memorize the way, if I ever got lost again.

With my attention focused on surroundings I didn't notice where I was placing my feet and nearly fell on my face after I was tripled by malicious stone. Again. Seriously I was too clumsy today.

I was once again steadied by the teenager who caught my hand before I could fall. Geez. This was embarrassing.

I was about to thank him grudgingly, however he suddenly squeezed my hand painfully. I scoffed, not at all impressed with whatever he was trying to do, and looked him right into eyes.

"You are way too trusting, kid. You saw my quirk back then, if I had any intention of hurting you all I would need is your blood and you would be powerless. Did that not cross your mind when you decided to follow a complete stranger?" he asked derisively, shaking my hand roughly to make a point. I made sure that my face was expressionless as I patiently waited for him to stop shaking me. Once he did, I swiftly raised my leg and _kicked him in the groin_.

' _That will teach him to not touch me without my consent,_ ' I thought with dark amusement as I looked down at the twitching and moaning male. Sure in this world, most people had these neat superpowers that made them nearly undefeatable, but you know what? Superhuman or not, they still shared same weaknesses with normal person, as proved by the downed male before me.

As I wanted to make a point I walked over to the teenager, who instantly curled into a ball to protect his groin when he saw me approach. I smirked at his reaction and using his position to my advantage, I placed my foot on his back, making him yelp as I forced him to lay flat on the ground. Then I took his arm and twisted it behind his back into a painful position (though I made extra sure that I actually didn't hurt him… I wasn't that evil. I think?). My efforts were rewarded by painful groan, making me smile evilly. I bent over to place my head near his ear and whispered in creepy voice, to make this situation even more disturbing for him.

"Your quirk is nice and all, but you can _only_ use it if you drunk blood. From what I observed, you only have a dagger on you. Going from that, you need to be near your opponent/victim. I may have been distracted before, but even I would notice if somebody sliced me and once I did, I would have kicked you in the balls just like I did before, or if that would be too disadvantageous for me, there is _plenty_ of vulnerable points which placements I just happen to know," I whispered to a stunned male under me. In the inside I was laughing at the situation, seriously, who knew being child could be so entertaining? Well I was lying him a little here... I knew for a fact that if I didn't have an element of surprise on my side I wouldn't have a chance, but you know, I would never tell him this.

Anyway, it would be too half-assed to stop now so I'll end it like a true badass; I'll let him eat his own words.

"Aren't you actually the one who is too trusting? What if I was an accomplice of those guys, paid by candies or some other shit to lead you somewhere, as who would suspect 'poor lost little girl'?" I huffed out mirthfully. Then I got up from him and started to dust myself nonchalantly. When I was done with that I started to pick at my nails, waiting for him to gather himself up. It was several long minutes after untill he actually dared to move and even after that I had to help him up.

He then tried to take few steps but he ended up shuffling funnily and I actually started to feel a little bad. I was sure now that he didn't mean bad before, when he grabbed me... he just wanted to warn me to be more careful and then I just reacted and… uuh, I'll really need to learn how to control my bad temper…

At any rate, I supposed I now had a very good chance to observe his personality. What will he do after his pride was trampled by three year old girl? (uuh… when I thought about it now… three year old defeating teenager… that was weird, right? … let's not tell anyone about this).

Will he turn around and leave me standing here? Will he continue to lead me to the bakery? Or will he want to beat me up after what I did to him… that could happen too. Eh, well the last one would certainly be pretty troublesome as I would be without my element of surprise.

' _This will be interesting…'_

I waited for something to happen… and waited… and waited. Nothing. He just stood there, his back to me.

Hah?!

When I was about to comment something (probably something very rude, knowing me), the man suddenly turned around to face me. I reacted accordingly as I thought his sudden move was him choosing third option, thus I settled into my defensive stance, both hands up and prepared for whatever he was about to throw my way.

However he didn't attack; he just stood there and looked at me with a frown.

"You have pretty strong kick, kid," he said after a moment, I blinked taken aback by his words, "Don't worry, I don't intend to fight you. I am man that can admit a defeat," he said solemnly. He even added a sage-like nod. What…

Pfttttt.

I started to laugh. Man, what was with all these boys and their 'manliness'? Really… I shook my head and with an amused expression, I walked over to the teenager wearing an indignant look on his face. I chuckled. Well it wasn't like I minded them being all silly, I wasn't about to deny a good laugh.

"So which way is that bakery?"

xXxXxXx

I groaned pitifully as I fell on a ground with a loud thud with my leg muscles protesting against even twitching and my heavy head in Izuku's lap. This day was a nightmare.

After getting home from my 'lost' escapade, of course everyone was already aware of me being late from my morning run. Thus I had to come up with excuse on the spot. And I just had to say I made friend… but I didn't know his name because we didn't exactly introduce ourselves. That lead to me trying to come with some believable scenario and in the end… well I had to spill everything because nobody believed me (though I omitted how rude I was towards that boy and our little… scuffle, I didn't have been _killed_ by granny). I was so ashamed… I thought I was better liar then this…

And of course because I tried to lie to them granny decided that her lessons were still too easy for me. And after that… It was absolute… total… _hell._

My legs... my mind… my soul…

I sniffled in misery, the little angel that was my brother patting my head soothingly.

The worst part was that I wasn't to go out on my own anymore; if I wanted to run I could do it around the house, they said.

No wait, that wasn't the worst of it. No… the worst was that they wanted to meet the boy who helped me find my way and thank him for what he did. Why, God, why? What if he would say something about my rude behavior? Or god forbid… that I... you know what I did…

I made a noise of dying whale and resisted urge to hit my head against something… although if I wasn't in my brothers lap I probably would have done it. Temptation of falling unconscious was so appealing…

"There, There, Nee-chan…"

Ah… my angel…

xXxXxXx

I would lie if I said that the whole meeting wasn't a total disaster…. Or at least for me, if you want to be more accurate.

Because that damn bastard enjoyed every,damn,minute,of,it.

Sure, why don't you enjoy discomfort of three year old, you irritating jerk! I hope that once Karma catched up to you, she will be especially cruel.

Anyway... It _could_ have ended worse… I mean, he didn't say anything about what would certainly get me killed; he just always tossed these subtle words that made me straighten myself in a preparation for a massacre. And then he didn't actually say what I was preparing for, no he then just sent that insufferable smirk my way and… ugh… Bastard.

He then accepted an invitation for a next day's dinner… saying something about being glad that he would be able to meet his little friend again… he was truly a detestable human being.

Oh well… at least I had name to curse now…

 _Akaguro Chizome..._

Just wait you big shit… One day I will enact my revenge upon you…

xXxXxXx

Next day I awaited dinner with a dread. My usually tortuous lessons palling in the way of worse threat.

However even through the fear of what was to come, I decided to not go unprepared into it this time around. I would not be played by him anymore and instead I would paint him in the worst light possible, so that he wouldn't be invited anymore… That was my grand plan!

And of course this plan… failed.

Geh! Why did you leave me, Lady Luck?!

Okay, I admit… it wasn't _that_ bad. Or maybe it wasn't just because Izuku was being his cute self and sensing my discomfort, he tried to make me as comfortable as possible. And he glared at that Chizome bastard throughout the whole meal, knowing he was the source of why I was feeling bad.

However at the end of the meal, somehow the conversation steered towards the direction of All Might and Izuku stopped his glaring so that he could fan-boy over his favourite hero together with Chizome.

I decided to just quietly slink away as finally, the attention wasn't on me.

xXxXxXx

I looked around in boredom as I chewed on a strawberry pocky. I was in a park. In the same park I met my current bane of existence to be precise. Why was I here if I had that very shitty ban on going out alone?

Well… reason for it would be …

I glared in front of me, where a table with papers was placed and next to it one lone teenager yelling his lungs off about revival, heroes and whatever.

… him.

Few hours ago, probably after I vanished into my room, he talked on and on about his ideology and that everyday he preached about it through street oratory speeches, wishing that others would see things the same way as him if he did that.

Hah, naïve.

Nevertheless what I thought about his efforts, somebody decided, don't know who but I curse that person, that _I_ as his _'friend'_ (when THAT happened?! Did he told them another lie or something?!), should support him… I had to consent as other choice was to help Izuku on his 'bug adventure'… nope, not going there.

Thus, here I was, sitting, bored to death.

I reached next to me, grabbing one of the Chizome's poster and looking at from close proximity. Nope, those squiggly symbols still didn't make sense to me. I frowned at the list in my hand, then I shrugged and with it still in hand I stood up, carefully placing half-eaten pocky pack on bench. With that done, I made my way towards drinking teenager, who was taking break from his preaching. He turned his head to look at me when he heard my approach.

"Hey, Chizome! Do you have these" I raised colorful poster to let him know what I was talking about, "in English too?" I ended my question.

First he mumbled something along the lines of 'Isn't she supposed to call me Chizome-san…' or whatever, but as he registered rest of my words he raised one of his eyebrows. I sent him blank stare in return.

"I have few of them here, why?"

"Nothing much just that I want to know what is written on it. And my... dad taught me how to read in English," I ended my lie. Well, he couldn't call me on it as he didn't met my dad… when I thought about it, was he even alive? He didn't visit for so long…

The eyebrow was raised even more up. However in the end, after little stare-down I was given an English version of his poster.

"Here is it. Just don't lose it, I won't give you another copy," he said with a wave of his hand, I nodded and walked back towards my pocky pack.

xXxXxXx

Last days spent at grandparent's house continued in the same spirit. I spent three or four hours a day in the park and when I was finally released from that… I went into another hell that was Granma's lectures. Ugh.

Haaah… I was so glad when I was finally at home.

xXxXxXx

In the following year, nothing really interesting happened. I continued my morning routine, now that I was back at home, sometimes Izuku and Katsuki joined me, but overall they were satisfied with being their lazy selves.

During month we weren't there, Katsuki made new 'friends' that were now following him everywhere with star-struck expressions… that meant that I had to get used to them too. I could have stayed home, but Izuku wanted to play with them and I didn't want to leave him alone with other children, so… yeah I had to get used to them.

With appearance of those brats our nearly everyday scuffles ceased as I stayed silent most of time and only spoke when asked and often my answer then would be something rude, but those other brats were pretty dumb so it went over their heads (Izuku and Katsuki were used to me being rude, so they didn't react). Of course we still had our moments… usually when my twin wasn't there to calm us down.

Christmas came and went that year with our Grandparents visiting for a few days and bringing presents for us. We were all more than little shocked by what we got.

Mom received a computer. Computer. Can you believe it? Who gives expensive presents like this?

And I and Izuku received phone… each had they own. There were of a sturdy kind that only had two or three features but still what the hell?… I think my 'lost' escapade had a major say when they thought about what to buy us.

I was a little embarrassed to give them my paintings after the present I got...

At any rate mom's present very quickly became an integral part in my brother's life… because of All Might and his videos. And I was not kidding with that 'integral part'… Izuku had to see the video of All Might's first appearance _at least_ once a day. I didn't know if I was supposed to worry or be amused. I decided for both in the end.

In April… a nightmare started…

The nightmare with a name _kindergarten_ …

And I was not exaggerating – there were kids _everywhere_. On floor, on ceiling, hiding among toys, jumping out of nowhere. I think one was even in a fucking _toilet bowl._

It was so annoying… And because kids aged 3–5 were crowded together in one building and big part of them already activated their quirk, it was often impossible to run or even hide from them (just try to run when someone is glued to you… literally).

Like I said… a _nightmare._

And then, month or so after Katsuki turned four, his quirk manifested.

God, he was so insufferable after that. Always bragging about it… I made sure to lessen his ego by beating him with my bare fists. He was pouting for a whole day after I defeated him. Ha! Served him right, I did offer him that he could do morning exercises with me after all…

In any case with his quirk being quite dangerous, he was forced to take after-kindergarten classes where he learnt how to properly use and control his quirk. He was so irked by that. I just laughed at his expense.

Our fourth birthday passed without any hassle. I received call from my grandparents wishing me a happy birthday (Izuku probably received same call). And then Chizome called me too, I was not surprised… he made sure to annoy me by phone at least once a month (grandma gave him my phone number… very cruel of her). I was not amused.

We visited aquanarium again to celebrate out birthday, where I had another stare down with my shark-friend (which he won this time around… damn).

Days before August's holiday were uninteresting at best, slow at worst. Izuku was excited though; he couldn't wait for his quirk to manifest. I didn't care either way. Sure it would be cool to, let's say breathe fire like our father, but overall? I lived one lifetime without it, I could another as well.

Then came our month long holiday that was spent at grandparent's house.

Of course this visit couldn't be without that eyesore Chizome. I shouldn't have told him I would be here. I shouldn't. Seriously why did I do that?! Good thing I still refused to tell him where I live, therefore at least my hometown was safe from him.

Haah… Anyway from the looks of it, he wasn't very successful this year either. Sure I knew that from our occasional calls (or e-mails, good thing he still believed my 'father' taught me English) but seeing it with my own eyes was... different.

It was a little disheartening to see others give him a cold shoulder - in the best cases - or being very rude and cruel. I was very rude to others too, but even I had boundaries that I didn't cross.

And... if I was being honest, although I still thought that his actions were kind of naive and childish, I did respect his determination and perseverance. He fought for what he thought was right and he didn't care what he would sacrifice for it. It was kind of admirable.

However... even strongest people would crack if they fought for too long without any results.

I wonder... how long till he would crack, too?

In the end it was this stray thought that made me relent and give him our address; however I warned him that I would kick him again if he ever visited without good reason.

Damn… I become softie.

Either way once we were back home, the nightmare named kindergarten started once again. However, I started to get a hang of it now. I just dropped Izuku next to Katsuki and then I found myself some nice hiding place where nobody disturbed me (all kids usually fluttered around Katsuki, enamored by his sparky quirk).

All things considered, this year was turning out to be another boring year… until I accidentally slapped myself with a teaspoon... That was lying across the room before it was closelyacquiainted with my face...

Oh well, very glorious way to find out my quirk I guess.

I was... satisfied that I got mom's quirk as her (and now mine, I suppose?) quirk had several uses that I was itching to experiment with it… after I'll learn how to NOT let random things fly to me from oddest directions… after I one day dodged a flying fork just in the nick of time I was starting to think that my quirk was even more life-threatening than Katsuki's…

Izuku was happy for me, but I could see he was itching to discover his quirk, too. With our fifth birthdays approaching and Izuku's quirk still not manifesting, we started to worry.

In the end mom decided that we should visit doctor…

Only crushing news awaited us on that visit.

* * *

 _The end~_

So... what do you think about this chapter? Did you recognize this 'Akaguro Chizome' character? He is cannon, after all. How many of you were surprised by his appearance? Heh.

I quite like that 'fight' scene... haha, Kou was pretty badass, wasn't she? That's just my opinion though. XD

Anyway, did you expect what her quirk will be? Don't be disappointed, there is still more to her quirk. Like I wrote, there will be more experimenting.

 _Reviews:_

 _MaiBilaro_ _– I am glad you like my story! :) Don't worry, she will not be in the same class as Izuku. But she will be in U.A._

 _Wolffee_ _– Yeah, I noticed it after you wrote it, thank you for pointing that out!_

 _Merlin's Knight_ _– Aww. No, I thank you for making me smile with your review. Ahahaha, yeah both are cute. I hope that I didn't change Kou in this chapter too much and that you will still like her. Stalk away, stalk away ~ I don't mind. XD Yeah, thank you for pointing that out._

 _Mortred101_ _– Here is more! Though a little late._

 _Xenocanaan_ _– Thank you for your kind review! I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter._

 _MCRDanime_ _– I am sorry I wasn't able to update sooner…_

 _lilly2wolt_ _\- You wrote two reviews, so I will reply to both (though you probably wouldn't read it anyways). First: Thank you for liking my first chapter. Second: Thank you for pointing out my mistake in the summary. Third... I am sad to hear that you wouldn't read my fanfiction anymore. To tell the truth, your review made me realize that I don't need for Izuku to be reincarnated Theo... though it will really depend on readers. Haha. Anyway I am glad you were honest in your review._


	9. Every great dream

Hello!

I am glad I managed to post this chapter so fast... the number of reviews on the last were very shocking!

At any rateI've changed chapters from one to five, but I don't think you would need to re-read them. I only changed the fact, that Izuku isn't Theo... he just really, really resembles him. I think I like how it is now. Also I fixed some mistakes. There was A LOT. Seriously, how could I post something like that? Embarrassing...

Haa anyway... this was pretty exhausting chapter. I addressed two major things, that I was planning from the start and well... they weren't happy. Oh well, back to Angst we are going. I certainly didn't miss you! I also tried to lighten it up with 'experimenting'. The whole Mom/Kou scene was pain in the ass to describe... I couldn't find the right words! I hope you will somehow understand what I was trying to say?

I am not wholly impressed with what I wrote (it's confusing and weird at times), but, it was fairly fast, so at least that could count, right? Right?

 _Quote: Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. - Harriet Tubman_

* * *

I sat on Izuku's bed with blank face, myriads of emotions swimming inside my head. I was _angry_ – angry at myself and at the world – _sad_ – because why Izuku? Why my sweet, little brother who wanted nothing more than to be hero – _in denial_ – surely doctor just made a mistake? Izuku wasn't really… - and in then I felt _helpless_ … because I could be angry, sad, in denial all I wanted, but there was nothing I could do to change the fact that my brother was quirkless.

 _'I wonder… If I wasn't born… would Izuku have my quirk?'_

This sudden thought made me feel cold in the stomach. Did I steal my brother's quirk by being born?

My hands started to shake. I bowed my head and yanked at the green strands of my hair. Powered by my raging emotions, my quirk activated, causing smaller object in the room to tremble and face me. They slowly started to inch towards me. I noticed it soon, even in my distressed state (I have learned to always be aware of my quirk these past weeks), therefore I took deep breath and then I slowly let the air out.

After everything stopped moving.

 _Why it was me, who inherited this quirk?_

I curled my hands into fists and raised my head slightly to look across the room at the boy sitting in front of a computer.

 _Why is he the one without quirk?_

I wasn't hero material. I didn't matter in my first life; I wouldn't matter in this one. Instead I wanted make sure that my brother reached his dream. Being hero. Standing on the same grounds as his idol. _That's what like it was supposed to be._

So why?

My eyes burned from tears I didn't dare to let out. This wasn't about me. I had no right to cry now, to be hurting, when I didn't lose anything today.

Faint noise made me turn my head towards a door that was opened by mom. She stepped inside quietly with sad expression on her face.

All Might's laugh echoed in the room. The echo sounded ominous in the dark room.

"Kaa-san... Nee-chan... Heroes are really cool, ne? I wonder... do you think I could be like All Might, when I grow up?" asked Izuku in a sof tone. His tone pulled at my heart-strings, but at the same time... at the same time, it made me think about alternatives.

This wasn't the end... Didn't I always think that quirks were fancy and all, but somebody could be hero even without it? Just think about possibilities... there had to be _something_ …

Suddenly mom rushed forward and hugged my brother from behind, together with a chair, crying and apologizing all the way.

I was startled for a moment, not really knowing what to do, but the sight of both of them crying made me snap out of my frozen state.

And then I was angry again, angry at a word for making these two suffer like this. Nobody hurt someone I loved, not even fucking world. You decide to not be fair? Okay then, screw you!

I stomped over to the bawling duo and angrily kicked a trash can, making a mess everywhere. The loud sound made the two of them look at me with startled expressions. Once I had their attention, with an expressionless face, I started to speak.

"Will you just give up like this?" I asked Izuku, dead-serious. I needed to know that. I could plan all I want, but in the end, this all depended on my brother's determination and resolve.

"Huh," both of them made confused sounds. They were truly mother and son. However, now wasn't time for this. I needed answer.

I slapped my hand onto the table, loudly, making them both jump. I squirmed a little inside. I didn't want to scare them, but... I could apologize later.

"I am asking again. Are you letting _this_ stop _you_? Are you fucking giving up?" I asked again, more harshly this time.

There was silence after that, nobody dared to make a sound.

Then, Izuku bowed his head, hiding his expression from us and slowly, he stood up, breaking out from our mother's embrace. He turned to face me, still saying nothing.

I was starting to get worried. Maybe I should have chosen gentler approach? Damn my rash decisions and my impulsiveness, what if I -

"N-no w-way…!" came from my twin in a whisper. I narrowed my eyes, observing his now raised face. He was staring right into my eyes. Ah... here it was... the spark I was looking for. Huh, maybe I didn't fucked up so badly.

"No way, what?" I nudged him with my words, fueling that spark.

"No way that I'll give up! I am gonna be the greatest hero of all time! THE NUMBER ONE HERO!" His voice slowly increased in volume, and at the end of his proclamation he was fully yelling.

I fought down my smile. I still had one more question...

"Even without quirk?" I asked softly.

I saw him falter a little, but then determination blared across his face and he rose both of his hands, clenched his eyes shut and yelled at the top of his lungs,: "EVEN WITHOUT THAT DAMNED QUIRK!"

I raised an eyebrow. Izuku, swearing? Woa. Well... he learned from the best.

Heh...

I let smile bloom on my face and chuckled, making him face me with betrayed expression. I hurried with explanation, not wanting him to think I was making fun of his dream.

"Hmm. That's nice. Well, I guess I'll be helping you with that. Damn what a load of work is before us..."

"N-n-nee-chan," he muttered with relieved expression. Then he shuffled over to me and buried his face into my neck, where he started to cry again. I patted him on the head sadly.

True. He can be strong later, now I'll let him cry. He had shitty day after all.

I stretched my hand towards our mother who was looking at us with guilty expression. Seeing my hand she took a step forward and then stopped, uncertainty crossing her face.

I smiled at her. It it was okay; after all, even I had my weak moment just minutes ago. She could simply make up for it by being there for Izuku from that moment onwards.

She started to cry again and hastily crouched down, to our height, to envelop both of us into a tight hug. I let my head rest on her shoulder as I rubbed her back soothingly.

'Haaa… they are such emotional dorks,' I thought fondly, stubbornly ignoring wet tracks on my own cheeks.

xXxXxXx

After that night's emotional roller-coaster, everything went more or less back to normal. We informed Katsuki of Izuku's quirkless state, and his reaction was something between annoyed grunt and disinterested snort, followed by a question of what was my brother planning now.

Izuku made another heated proclamation and Katsuki just shrugged and said that he looked forward to having a worthy rival in becoming 'Number one hero'. After which I made fun of him, asking how he wanted to become the best hero with that nasty attitude of his.

Needless to say he didn't take it well and my brother looked so done, when he had to separate us again.

Hmph, like we needed that separating. If he waited few minutes more, I would win.

However other kids at the kindergarten were less understanding. Although that wasn't such big problem in the long run, I _made_ sure they would understand, whatever methods I had to use. It helped that I had always either fork or other pointy object to scare them away. And when I with my glare and forks didn't scare them away, there was Katsuki too... Gah! Seriously what was so scary about some shiny sparkles anyway? I could pull forks from out of nowhere, literally, what was to not love, about my quirk?

(I was still feeling guilty whenever I used my quirk in the presence of my brother, even if he said it was oka... it wasn't okay for me. Would this guilt and what 'ifs' ever go away?)

What was weird though, was that Chizuru wasn't picking up his phone. I wanted to filter some of my frustration on him, but he just... wasn't available. He didn't even answer my e-mails.

Sure, I could excuse two, three days, hell even one damn week, but full month? Not so much. Our calls started to be more frequent this year, therefore him not answering...I couldn't help, but to worry. He grew on me like a very ugly and persistent mushroom... I sincerely hoped that there wasn't any disaster on his end, too.

One was enough for a long, looong time.

Anyway, there was nothing I could do than wait until he will contact me again, thus I concentrated on the matter at hand... and that was how to help Izuku become hero.

The tree of us - my brother, me and Katsuki – decided to sit one afternoon in our room (we went there, because mom always made the best cookies for us) and brainstorm every option that was available.

I suggested that he should learn some kind of Martial art or at least basic self-defense. If he wanted to protect others, he should first learn how to protect himself. Katsuki agreed on that one, which was a surprise for me – he usually didn't like my ideas, however great they were (okay, raid an Ice-cream stand because I was too hot and I didn't have money, was _bad idea..._ but... ice-cream). And Izuku looked apprehensive, but he too agreed. When we told mom about it, she assured us that she will look into what kind of dojo were around.

Anyway Katsuki then exclaimed that he will join me on my daily moorning exercise and that Izuku will, too. No questions asked. Well... I didn't have problem with that, but...

"That's great idea, Kacchan!" ... Ah, looks like Izuku didn't too. Okay then, I will have company in the mornings.

And then Izuku decided that he will start gathering information on villains and heroes alike, so that he will be prepared once he steps into that world.

I patted him on the head and Katsuki just nodded and didn't comment anything as he was too preoccupied with mom's delicious cookies.

xXxXxXx

"Slowly... slowly... Yeeeees, like that. Like that. Slowly... Come to meee~" I mumbled quietly as I attracted my bear plush to me. It took a lot of effort, because I wanted for the toy to go _slowly_ and not just flew over quickly.

With both hands in front of me and focused expression on my face I watched as the stuffed toy slowly neared me.

I smiled triumphantly when the plush was few centimeters from my hands. I was about to yell happily, but suddenly plush changed direction and crashed roughly into my forehead.

"Aaaarrgh! Why is it always my head?!

xXxXxXx

I narrowed my eyes at slowly, very slowly moving stone. I narrowed them even more, willing the stone do what I wanted with my pure will. I just continued to crawl through the air towards me.

"Kou-chan? What are you doing?" asked mom in concern. I sighed and let the stone fall as I turned towards her.

"I am just experimenting. I am trying to completely 'stop' the stone in the air when I attract it to me. But when I try to 'stop' the stone, it just either continues to fly to me, or it drops down..." I said miserably. I was so excited for this! Just imagine, if I could attract objects from many different angles and then stop them, they could form my... ULTIMATE SHIELD. Wouldn't that be super cool?

"Hmm... I've never thought to use my quirk like that," she mused. Yeah that's because this world was totally deprived of quality films. Those films that were produced here... what a sad excuses of a films they were when compared to those in my first world. But I guess reality there was already film-like...

"Show me how you are doing it," said mom, snapping me out of my thoughts. I threw the stone away and used my quirk to attract it to me. When it was relatively close, I tried to stop its approach, but without any success. It slowed, but didn't stop.

"I see...I think I know where the problem is."

"You do?!" I said in excitement. Will I have my own ultimate shield?! I turned around to fully face her, stone falling onto the ground when I didn't pay attention to it.

"Yup! I think it's because you are doing it wrong," she said cheerfully. She crouched next to me and observed the fallen stone thoughtfully.

"How should I do it then?" I thought about it. There were other ways?

"I think it's not stopping, because you are attracting it from a bad angle," I blinked and tilted my head. What? Seeing my confused expression she smiled, stood up and stepped back a bit.

"Let's see. When you attract an object, you are forcing it to go towards you." She raised her hand and slowly, the stone started to fly over to her. I quietly observed what she was doing.

"When you want it to stop, you basically lessen the pressure on the object which was forcing it to go to you." The stone started to move more and more slowly and in the end, when it looked like it would stop, it started to descend, though its descending trajectory was little crooked as if the stone still wanted to move towards the older woman.

"However, like you saw, there will be a moment where the pressure will be so insignificant, that it would be overpowered by gravitation." She stopped deactivated her quirk and the stone fell with soft thud few centimeters from her feet.

I blinked. That was pretty impressive display. She did it with spoken descriptions, too, but she did everything I did so what...?

She kneeled next to the stone and raised her hand, so that it was above it.

"I think that if you want the object to completely stop moving," she paused and used her quirk to slowly lift the laying stone, then when it was around hallway towards her hand, it stopped. I felt my eyes widen at what I saw.

She continued,: "You need to attract it, vertically against the ground and then somehow find the right amount of 'pressure' to be used on the object, so that's in the same ratio with gravitational power," she ended with a tired huff. Simultaneously she stopped using her quirk, stone once again falling. Then she sat up and started to breathe heavily.

With my eyes still widened I looked from her, to the stone and them back. And repeated it many times. What the hell... so I did it from the wrong angle? What was with all this logic?! Wasn't superpowers supposed to overcome logic?! And do unbelievable things? I call bullshit! I wanna have my ultimate shield!

"Of course there is another way to do it. You can held the stone in one of your hands and then attract it to the other. Then once it is between your hands you start to attract it to the hand you held it in before, too. If you manage to adjust attraction on both hands, in theory you should be able to 'stop' the object too... but I think that option will be really tiring."

"Wooaaa, kaa-san. You are really smart!" I said in amazement. And then I felt really bad, I could have worded it a little bit better. It sounded, like I thought she was stupid before. Which I didn't, I just didn't think she knew so much... That sounded even worse.

"Hahaha. Well I know some things," she said lightly, not at all offended by my words. Then she got up,"I'll start to prepare lunch now. Will you please find your brother? He said he would be in the park with Katsuki-kun."

"Yup! I'll go!" I shouted as I dashed into the hall, to put on my shoes. Thoughts of possibilities flying inside my head. I may never have my ultimate shield, like I wanted. But there was sooo much I still could do with my quirk. I grinned evilly.

xXxXxXx

*Thud*

That... hurt...

"What the fuck...?" I heard Katsuki say somewhere to my left. He sounded flabbergasted.

"N-nee-chan! Are you alright?!" And here was Izuku, he sounded close, as if he was hovering somewhere near. I slowly opened my eyes and was met with the sight of tree bark. I blinked and stepped away from the tree trunk all the while rubbing my forehead. Then I looked at two boys with stunned expression on my face.

There was silence, then...

"Ha... HAHAhahhahaha..." Katsuki _had_ to be first to break it. I sent him disgruntled look as I continued to rub undoubtedly red spot on my forehead.

"Are you alright, Nee-chan? It was quite a crash..." asked my sweet little brother. I smiled at him to calm him down.

"Yeah. Yeah. I think I am alright... I hope this will not bruise," I answered with a sigh. This certainly wasn't what I expected when I got up from bed that morning. I scratched my head as I looked back at the tree.

Looks like my quirk _could_ be used on heavier object too... only it worked the other way around, thus instead of _objects_ flying to me, _I_ fly to them... What a complicated quirk...

I was interrupted from my thoughts by crackling sounds. I turned my head around to look what happened and smirked.

From the looks of it, Katsuki laughed too much and his quirk ended up going out of control and now sparks were flying out of his hands. This time it was me who laughed at his expense. Hah, at least I wasn't only one who had difficult quirk.

In my laughter I didn't notice exasperated but wishful look Izuku sent at both of us.

xXxXxXx

I looked with frown at my ringing mobile phone, where words 'Chizome' blared to life.

"Nee-chan?" inquired Izuku in confusion when he saw my reluctance to pick it up. Katsuki looked up from where he was building his sand castle and sent me a questioning look. I sighed, so no, it wasn't my imagination. I bit my lower lip and said quick "Be right back" as I hurried somewhere with less people. Once there, I accepted the call. There was silence on the other line.

"Hello…? Are you alright? You didn't call me for nearly three months, you know..." I decided to speak up first.

"Where are you?" was his only answer. His voice sounded very somber. I scratched my head.

"Uh, what? That sounded reaaally creepy you know?" I teased, trying to ease atmosphere. As I thought, something really happened. Damn, I really can't have a break, can I?

"I am in the park nearest to your house, just come," he snapped back and ended the call. Um, what? I stared at my now silent phone. He was there? It must very serious matter then...

I huffed and ran back towards two boys playing in sand-box.

"Hey! Something came back, so I have to go. Tell kaa-san that I will be at home by dinner, will you otouto?" I called hurriedly to my brother and then I rushed away and towards our house, surprised exclamations were my only answer.

Five minutes later I arrived in the park, catching my breath as I stared at the man before me. He looked tired and unkempt and as if he aged at least ten years during the time I didn't saw him. He was only twenty, but now he didn't look his age. He didn't say anything after my arrival and just stood her, looking at a family that had picnic around fifty meters across from us.

After I was sure my breathing was back to normal, I spoke up,: "So, I am here. Why are you appearing here _now_? You didn't pick my calls or-"

"My parents are dead."

"Oh."

...oh...

Fuck. What... what I was supposed to say to that? That came totally out of nowhere! I... lost my words. Shit. What is norm to say in these situations? Should I say 'I am sorry for your loss'? ... That sounds too hollow for my tastes. However... this oppressive silence was killing me. I'll just say it then. Better than stay silent, I suppose. I took deep breath.

"I-"

However, before I could even start my sentence he snapped his eyes to me and I once again lost words I wanted to say.

I expected to see grief in his eyes - he after all lost his parents – however more than grief, what I saw in there the most was wild rage that froze me in place with its intensity.

I opened and closed my mouth several times, until I finally managed to whisper one word: "How?".

He straightened his posture at my question and curled his hands into fists.

"There... there was collapse of shopping mall few months back," I distantly remembered something like that from TV, some people died that day... I didn't... didn't really linked that disaster with him not taking my calls, "They, they were still alive, you know? Even after the collapse... They waited for rescue... waited but..." he took deep breath and drops of blood dripped on the ground from his tightly clenched hands.

"Heroes were too late," he ended bitterly and started to shake and considering that I didn't hear any sobs, those tremors were caused by fury. I pursed my lips and blanked my face. This wasn't time to be distracted; I needed to be calm, because Chizome as hell won't be. He was probably already planning something stupid.

Before I could say anything, he continued 'his explanation'.

"Those damn _'heroes',_ " word 'heroes' was spat very derisively, "were too late, because it was too _dangerous_ for them, if they didn't wait for reinforcements. Those fucking _COWARDS_! Wasn't that what they signed up, when they became heroes?! Wasn't this what they were SUPPOSED TO DO? TO SAVE PEOPLE AT THE COST OF THEIR OWN LIVES?!" he shouted as he neared me and took hold of my shoulder, his nails digging into my flesh. I looked dully at the offending limb. I reached towards it to harshly tore it away, only after then I faced the enraged male.

He was breathing heavily from his outburst. I think he didn't even saw me standing before him, too lost in his own thoughts.

I looked to the right at the family from before and was unsurprised when I saw them looking at us uncertainly. I closed my eyes, okay, let's not do even more of a scene there.

Still holding his hand, I started to lead him away into deepest parts of the park where I was sure nobody would see or hear us. Chizome didn't protest, he didn't ever react, so our journey here was filled with suffocating silence.

Once I deemed that we were was safe enough, I turned towards the man who seemed to calm down during our walk and was now looking around at trees around us.

"It should be more discreet to talk here. You were gathering too much attention before," I said as an explanation and then I plopped myself down into soft glass, with my back leaning against a tree.

He turned to look at me. Then he sighed and nodded tiredly. He walked few steps away from me where he sat on the ground, leaning on his hands as he lifted his gaze up to watch a blue sky.

"Hah... I suppose I did," he mumbled wearily. I hummed, but didn't make any other sound beside that. It was largely because I actually didn't have anything to say. What was there to say, anyway?

And there was most likely some reason why he sought me out today, it wasn't consolation – his parents died weeks ago, if he wanted my support, he would be here sooner – no... I don't know what he wanted, but I would listen regardless.

Minutes stretched without anything said between us. After hour or so later I heard soft noises and when I looked at Chizome, he changed his position and was now sitting 'Turkish style', with his legs crossed and his hands rested on his knees. I raised an eyebrow and straightened myself, to let him know I was listening.

"You know...I was thinking about a lot these past weeks," he started, I tilted my head, curious, "I realized that I truly was too naïve and childish to think that I would change something just by preaching on streets... no, that truly wouldn't change anything. To change this corrupted, disgusting world... I would need to do something drastic," he paused here, looking uncertain if he should continue. I breathed out harshly and scratched my head.

"What the hell... is your conviction really so weak? Don't stop halfway, bastard..." I mumbled softly, but it was hearable for the man before me to hear. He opened his mouth hurriedly to yell something on me, but before he could, he promptly closed it with a loud snap. Then he chuckled humorlessly.

"Ha... Yeah... You are right; I already decided to not be half-assed. Sorry." He smirked crookedly and I just waved my head, to tell him to hurry up.

"I have... plan. This plan would need for me to train myself for a few years. I am too inadequate for what I have in mind as I am now. I..." he took deep breath and nodded to himself, my eyebrows twitched. He was being overdramatic, "... I'll kill every last of those damn _fake Heroes_!" he ended and looked at me with an expression with which he was telling me there was nothing for me to say to change his mind. I looked back at him with blank face as I processed his words.

Killing, huh? Well, that wasn't what I expected to hear when I picked up his call today, but... I wasn't exactly shocked either. Maaa, what a mess.

I closed my eyes and crossed my arms as I threw my head back to rest it against a bark of the tree. I needed to think this through. Fuuu, so, my friend wants to become a villain. Glorious.

Did I want to change his mind? Ah, what a tricky question.

It wasn't like I couldn't see where he was coming from. Sure his solution was, like he said 'drastic', however his reason for such an idea was pure in core.

And... My morals were, too, a 'little' screwed. Sure, I knew roughly what was considered 'good' and what was really 'bad', however... borderline between these two things was always too blurred for me to impartially decide where someone's actions stood... Or at least in theory.

In practice I set my own rules for 'good' and 'bad' and just did whatever I so wished to do and damn consequences.

Therefore, _I_ could hardly stop him from what he was set to do – if he didn't try to kill Izuku or Katsuki, that's it. I would beat him up myself if he even so looked at them badly. However I didn't think he would do something like this... he still had some of his morals. At least I hope he did?

Anyway, like I said before, it wasn't my place to stop him... or even disagree with his logic as... well... someone who became hero, he/she did so with knowledge that one day they could be killed by a villain - if they didn't want for that to happen, they just had to become stronger. Survival of the fittest and all that shit.

I had to make sure of something first, though.

"Are you aware of the consequences your actions will cause?" I asked as I opened my eyes, my tone carefully disposed of any emotions. He scrunched his eyebrows.

"You mean me becoming villain? Of co-" I interrupted him impatiently.

"No. I am not talking about that." Seeing his confused frown I uncrossed my hands and leaned forward to meet his puzzled eyes with my impassive green orbs.

"I am talking about what their colleagues, friends, _families_ would feel once you kill the hero," I continued with hard look. Could he do it, knowing he would steal someone from others? Could he take the guilt?

"Once you kill someone's friend, best friend, husband, wife, _parent, child..._ Other children will be like you, you know?... orphans." Okay, I admit, that was a bit underhanded – to poke open wound like that. But it was needed to make a point... at least I think?

When he jerked as if I somebody slapped him I was seriously debating if I didn't go too far.

"That's..." He looked away and he was clenching his knees so hard I wouldn't be surprised if it bruised later. I bit my lower lip. Should I stop, or should continue? Decisions, decisions.

Ah, what the hell? Why I was even thinking about this? I've never questioned my actions!

"These little brats will be full of hatred, like you are at this moment and what will they do with it? Why, of course they became heroes! They start this career with an intent to take a revenge on you... Where is your ideal world filled with only 'real' Heroes, now?" I ended flatly, not pulling any punches.

There was another prolonged silence after I stopped speaking. During that time I leaned back to prop myself against the tree again. Once I did that I lifted my eyes to observe branches as they were moved back and forth by the wind. I made sure to not make a sound as I waited for the male to collect himself.

"I..." I snapped my eyes towards the man after he spoke. His head was bowed and his whole body was trembling. I didn't spoke and waited until he found words he was undoubtedly looking for.

"... don't know what to do. Nothing I did to this day helped to make this world a better place. I only want... to create a world filled with true Heroes... Do I really ask for so much? I, this- this was the only way that I could think of. If not this... then _what should I do?_!" He raised his head and his black eyes stared into mine. His body language, his expression, his eyes. Everything screamed despair.

I instantly felt reaaaally bad that I was so blunt with him. Shit. I scratched my head.

"Aaah... who knows?" I answered(?) him impassively with my own question and then added, as an afterthought, "Certainly not me,".

He stopped trembling and looked at me wordlessly. I scratched my head nervously again. That probably wasn't worded too well? Eh, I've never was the best in handling emotional stuff.

With a sigh, I stood up. I could feel all at once the full impact of sitting in one place for so long. My body was soooo stiff. I stretched thoroughly, shivering uncomfortably inside after each crackmy body made.

Once I felt somewhat moveable, I walked over to the still sitting man. Once next to him, I patted his shoulder in comfort (?) and then helped him up. He obediently stood up, probably not really functioning, so lost in his thoughts.

Releasing another sigh, I patted away every dust particle I could see on his clothes and then I reached for his hand and started to lead him away once again.

"Where...?" I heard him ask. I resisted an urge to flinch, his voice sounded awful.

"To my home. You will have dinner with us and then you will sleep over," I said shortly, not leaving any space for objections. There weren't any.

During our journey towards my house I kept my sight on the road, not looking back at the male lagging behind me.

xXxXxXx

Mom took one look at us and without any questions asked ushered us towards the table. Izuku was already sitting there and he looked really relieved when he saw me. He only sent curious look Chizome's way, but he too didn't ask what happened.

Dinner was silent and awkward thing, with my mother and brother trying to cheer things up, but ultimately failing to do it because of depressing atmosphere around Chizome. I sent them smile for their efforts, however I did nothing to destroy uncomfortable air around the table. Quite asshole-ish of me, I know - I was the one to invite Chizome after all- but, I was tired. I was four year old that was too fucking tired of all the shit that happened in the preceding year.

I was first to finish my meal and once I did, I finally broke the silence that fallen.

"Mom. Chizome doesn't have place to stay today. Can he stay here?"

Woman in question tilted her head in thought, but she didn't consider my request for long, as soon her mouth stretched into welcoming smile.

"Of course he can! I'll set futon for him in your and Izuku's room. Would that be okay?" she directed the question of her own at both me and Izuku. My brother only nodded, as his mouth was full of food and I smiled at her again. It was perfect.

Thus when it was time for sleep, everyone went to their assigned sleeping places. Izuku fell asleep instantly, but I couldn't.

I was getting worried over Chizome quietness. It was so out of character for him. By this time he would send several extremely irritating sentences my way, which only served a purpose of annoying me.

I guess, I really should think about my words before I speak them. My words earlier clearly affected him more than I anticipated.

But really... why did he even come to me then? What did he expect? From the start he knew I was blunt and rude individual that said what was on her mind without care. He knew that. So, why did he come, with his mind so fragile, that it will be shook by few of my words? It didn't make sense.

In the first place, who would even go to the four year old girl and tell her he planned to murder people? And heroes at that. Normal girl would be in tears once she heard words like that.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I wasn't exactly normal, but everyone saw a child when they looked at me, even if I had mind of an adult. So, my point still stood: Why did he come here?

We weren't even that close, for God's sake! We were friends, okay? But, we mostly just frustrated each other to no ends and most of time we only spook by phone, where it was a miracle if we spoke civilly. We bickered, we drove each other crazy, but in the end we always picked up the call from the other.

It was weird relationship, similar to the one I had with Katsuki, but still completely different.

Because Katsuki was a kid - very intelligent one, but still a kid. It would be so easy to break him – physically but also emotionally - and that, sometimes, scared me. Same with Izuku, really. I've always had this need to protect them (though shorty totally didn't need it... I only protected him from his big ass ego). I wonder, were this my totally nonexistent 'mother's instincts'? Pfft, yeah, that was what it totally was.

Hah, anyway. I've never felt this way towards Chizome. He wasn't kid anymore. He was adolescent and I didn't feel any urge to shelter, to protect him. I just felt him to be my... equal? Or something? I don't know how to describe it, but, I know that he felt that way to me too (although he had annoying habit of calling me kid). And... it felt nice to be recognized as an equal by near-adult. Because, as childish as I had became, I could never delete the fact that I was over thirty in mind.

...Again, I lost sight of what was I thinking about in the first place Ah, whatever, I'll just sleep. I was too tired to think now, anyway.

I looked at the male on the ground with a frown and then I reached around with my hand, until I came across what I was looking for. Once I had it in my hand, I threw it at my friend.

My bear plush bounced against the back of his head and fell few ways away from him. He snapped his head around to glare at the offending thing only to come across a toy. He blinked and lifted his eyes to look at me in confusion.

"For better dreams," I said simply, he looked even more incredulous, "I was told that plush toys drive away nightmares," yeah; it totally didn't help in my case. His unimpressed look told me he doubted it too, "Whatever, if you don't want it, just let it lay there," I ended and turned around to sleep on my other side. Small smile appeared on my face when I heard Chizome shuffle around, undoubtedly reaching towards my stuffed toy.

xXxXxXx

I frowned as I looked at a tidied futon, next day in the morning.

' _What a shit... he could at least say goodbye or something,'_ I though in irritation.

"Hmmh? Nee-chan? Chizome-san already left?" asked me my still half-asleep brother as he rubbed his eyes.

"Seems like it. If you want, you can use bathroom first."

"Yeah. I'll go. You take _ages,_ once you are in there," he said with cheeky smile. I blinked as I processed his words. Once I did I narrowed my eyes however he quickly rushed away before I could jump on him to tickle him to death.

"W-what! What did you say, you brat?! I am not that slow!" I yelled after retreating and laughing boy. I huffed in indignation. Seriously. I shook my head and turned around to change out of my pajamas. On the way there I saw folded piece of paper sitting innocently on our desk. I tilted my head and took the list into my hands, unfolding it in the process.

I immediately recognized Chizome's illegible scribbles. I sighed, so he did remember to say goodbye, but really, he couldn't wait a little longer till I woke up? Well... at least he wrote the message in English. Points to him.

I started to read.

 _Kid,_

 _I am sorry for my behavior during previous day. You and your family were very hospitable towards me and I didn't even say 'Thank you'. Will you please convey my apologies to you mother and brother? I would do it myself, but I am in a hurry._

 _Our talk yesterday really opened my eyes and even though I went over everything at night, I still wasn't able to think of any solution. But, that is okay, I suppose. I realized I was too hasty in making decisions before. I decided that I will proceed with my plan to become stronger, but what happens after I reach the point where I will be satisfied with my skills... I am still not certain of what I would do after that. However I know that to change anything, I will need to be strong._

 _I hope that even though I behaved the other day like I did, you will still keep in contact with me. I was thinking of changing my phone number, I will send it to you by e-mail if you still want to be friend with me._

 _And if you don't... well... thank you for yesterday. And all those times in the past when you listened to what I had to say._

 _PS: I decided to kidnap your bear. If you want it back, you will need to take it by force kiddo, though I would not be so easily defeated as before._

My eyebrows twitched in agitation as I read the last paragraph. Who the hell steals a plush toy from the child?! What a shitty excuse of a human being!

I searched for my phone and once I found it, I started to write him a message.

 _You bastard. I will take it back. Just wait. AND. I'll tie you next time you sleep over, so that you will not be able to run away, seriously, you couldn't have stayed for breakfast at least?_

I huffed, satisfied with what I wrote. Then I threw the mobile on my bed, together with the paper and went to finally change into something presentable.

* * *

The end!

Finally! I thought I'll never end this...

So... what do you think about the way Kou managed to handle these crisis? I am especially talking about Chizome(Stain) scene... I did a lot of research about him and, of course, about time-line. He is (and will be) different from cannon. In this chapter he is still relatively young and he just lost both his parents... I think a little out of character is okay there. Also, even though it doesn't seems like it, just him meeting Kou, changed him a little too. I plan to write his POV-er in 11 chapter, so that his actions and feeling could be clearer.

Also If somebody wondered... I plan for Chizome to be something like best friend/big brother figure for Kou, but at the same time, not really. Mah, so complicated this will certainly be a 'fun' ride.

Now reviews!:

 _Meilinfan \- Yeaah! *fangirling too*. I like his character a lot!_

 _TheHolyBlade \- I want to deliver you my deepest apologies for my thousand years absence... It was very uncalled of me. *nods grimly*. Ha! Anyway, Yup, I so couldn't wait for a moment she would meet him. To tell the truth I am not too sure how well this chapter will be received... considering how big change in his character I did. But still his fate is not set in stone. Who knows, maybe he really will become 'hero killer' in this fic too. _

_wolfzero7 \- Eh, I am not too sure about that now, it been a while since I last saw those films. You can be sure I had BIG plans for her quirk though. _

_xenocanaan \- Thank you for your comment! It certainly warms me that you think that way. Though, truth is, I heavily depend on the opinions of readers, because I have so much ideas and if I didn't considet what my readers wants I wouldn't know which of the ideas I should chose. Haha. I really need someone who would told me 'stop! this idea is ridiculous' sometimes._

 _Mary D. Black2000 – I am glad someone finds Kou badass too! Haha. I wrote some of her 'experiments' here, but she still has a way to go with her quirk._

 _havarti2 \- Yup! That's what I was going for! Wild Stain appeared! Haha… that wasn't funny, I know._

 _Aluminum Iodid e- Aaaw! I am glad you like his appearance! They will be great friends… sort of. Hehe. Yep, she will meet other cannon character, probably in the next chapter. She will use something like 'telekinesis' but I am sorry, no fire. She would be too overpowered if I did that. And her quirk will certainly be different from her mother's._

 _animagirl \- I guess, is this soon?_

 _chibi-no-baka- Thank you! Ohohoho~. Her quirk? I have PLANS for it – like you saw in this chapter. But no repel though, I already have quite a lot of things she will be able to do._

 _OTrizy \- You mean that you like changes of POV? I am glad! And don't worry; there would be another one in two chapters. Which cliffhanger are you talking about? Haha… there is so much of them. I am sorry to read that... I did warn that there will probably be spoilers for those that didn't read manga. I am sorry again. Inko's quirk is 'attraction of smaller object'._


	10. As time goes on

I am so late again, sorry (blame tumblr). But! I have good news for you in return: In this chapter there is a big time-skip, hurray! I'd say around three chapters more and I will be able to jump into the events of manga/anime finally.

Also I tried to incorporate other cannon characters - will you find them all? Though I suppose one of them isn't really recognizable enough - he was supposed to be spotted fairly easily, but then the newest manga chapter happened and all of that part had to be thrown outside of the window... he will appear again in later chapters, though, so don't worry.

At any rate I don't like this chapter much as events feel very rushed - but that's the point, I guess. I am sure most of you are getting impatient to get to the more exciting parts of the manga/anime. Although... I am very much curious how you will react to what I have planned for Kou.

And last thing to add: Would be anyone interested to be my beta? Or just someone I could brainstorm my idea with? I am a little hesitant if I should proceed with what I have planned in my mind now...

 _Quote: "As time goes on, you'll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn't, doesn't. Time solves most things. And what time can't solve, you have to solve yourself." - Haruki Murakami_

* * *

Both ours and Katsuki's birthdays passed without any hassle that year as well and soon it was time for August holidays, and of course that meant time for our annual visit of grandparent's house.

Once we arrived there, I was snatched away by grandma who then gave me several hours long lecture about how to and not to use my quirk.

I very soon learned that during those months I played with my quirk, I managed to do every 'not to do' thing she listed. I smartly decided against telling her. I wanted to live a little longer, you know? Everything worked for me in the end, so she didn't need to know about it, right? Right.

At any rate, having now valid excuse to ask grandpa what his quirk was, I soon 'cornered' and questioned him.

Turns out... I was totally on point with my theories about him being able to read minds. Wonderful. Before I could freak out at the possibility that he was reading my mind all along, he assured me that he never read my mind as there were several conditions he had to abide by when he wanted to know someone's thoughts.

One of them being that the one whose mind is being read has to be aware of that fact and give a mental 'go ahead'. If that didn't happen, the mind of the 'mind-read' individual could be severely damaged.

Um… what a 'friendly quirk'. I shuddered at the thought of someone invading my head and destroying it in the process. Very awful thought.

I wouldn't give him my permission any time soon ( _too_ personal for my taste. - that much I told him when I absorbed all information he provided to me about his quirk. He laughed and said he guessed as much and then told me that he was just glad that neither of us (me and my brother) had such a quirk. I promptly agreed.

While knowing thoughts of other people sounded cool in theory... it was just too creepy in practice. And honestly I wouldn't touch other people thoughts with a ten foot pole.

Anyway, so yeah, that was another mystery out of the way.

The month there after that was spent like always. Grandma tried to teach me how to 'behave like a lady' (and utterly failing), Izuku was taught whatever from grandpa and mom had some time to herself.

We did activities together too, of course. We walked around the town, went to visit some boring museum, went to swimming pool... normal holidays I'd say.

Though, I suppose there was something out of the norm that month. I gained a new companion... Miss Cat!

There is a glorious story behind our first meeting, of course...

...

I was standing in front of this big shop in the centre of the town. Grandma dragged all members of our family there, saying that our food supplies were thinning. I was just glad I managed to persuade her to let me wait outside. I _disliked_ shopping very much. Sure, I was feeling a little bad that I let Izuku alone with adults, buuut shopping was a big no-no.

Anyway, I was just standing there, yeah? Doing nothing and just chilling... then I heard ugly laugh going from somewhere to my right. On that side was a park. I was bored, so I thought: _'Why not check that out?'_ and because I had nothing better to do, I did just that.

And I was very glad I decided to do that.

I stumbled upon the scene where three assholes were throwing pebbles at this little kitty that tried to crawl away, but couldn't because they threw rocks in her path. Excuse me if I saw red for a bit there.

I beat up those shits, not pulling any punches back. They were around twelve anyway, I was confident they would survive.

Then when I felt satisfied enough, standing proudly above three groaning bodies I made speech of a lifetime, making sure that my words soaked in by pelting _them_ with pebbles.

I am totally conviced that I looked magnificent standing there with serene smile, rocks flying to me from all sides and spewing threats left and right... though I suppose they would disagree with me as from their point I probably looked like a escapee from the madhouse… pfft such small details.

Anyway, once I was done with those excuses of human beings, I walked towards the kitty, wanting to calm down the undoubtedly scared little animal.

Turns out that black fluffy thing had more fight in her than one would guess. I had scratches and bites _everywhere._

As I sat there, nursing my wounds, the little fluff-ball licking her fur indifferently few centimeters in front of me... I decided there and then to bring her home with me. She was perfect!

And thus I took her in my arms (she instantly started to wiggle and scratch viciously around her, but I ignored that with cheerful smile) and started to walk away... only to be stopped when someone jumped in my path.

"That was so COOL!" the boy before me yelled, jumping up and down in excitement. I jerked back a little, the black kitten in my arms stopping her assault and instead landing her yellow eyes at the black-haired boy before us. I blinked in surprise and stayed silent, not exactly knowing what to say to him. However clearly I didn't have to say anything as the chatter-box in front of me had still a lot to say.

"I-I mean! You just flew towards them yelling '"I'll fucking kill you all" and then you started to fight them and only thing heard was 'bam', 'wham' and 'pow' and they were like totally helpless and screaming for mercy and – and then they asked who are you and you were like "I am your worst nightmare". And It- it was a little scary, honestly - but still awesome! And then they had no energy left and just waited for you to finish them. And you summoned rocks to you and ended everything with your final move... and... and... I couldn't avert my eyes; it was like something from a TV. I've never saw someone with such beautiful manly heart in real life! And aftet you walked towards the cat you so bravely saved, you-," he blabbered on and on and I just stood here, looking at him with wide eyes, totally speechless.

Just... what.

Pow? Summoning? Final move?... _Manly heart_? Excuse me, I am a woman!

Was this kid on drugs or something? As I continued to listen to his words, I decided that trying to find a sense in his words would take too much damn energy. Better to step away from him.

I coughed awkwardly to get his attention and the hyperactive red-eyed boy before me instantly clapped his mouth shut.

"Uh, okay, thanks. Cool. But you watch TV too much, kid." Were the only words I said, before I made hasty and totally tactical retreat. I _was not_ running away from that crazy kid because I was freaked out. Nope, nada, no way, nein.

The little fluff ball for once cooperated with me and stayed still in my arms. Probably agreeing that creating distance was the safest option for us in that moment.

...

And that is the end of the story as fortunately the boy didn't follow me. I didn't saw him from the remainder of our stay in the town either, so everything was peachy after that.

I was allowed to keep Miss Cat. However I was told that I'll have full responsibility of her and her actions. I didn't mind because we had very strong bond with each other as proved by my scratched limbs – she was just too shy to display her love in other ways.

Our visit ended and so did our holidays, thus to kindergarten we went again! Ugh. Well, at least all kids now knew to not disturb me and let me draw in peace. There were really peculiar rumors going around about me – usually about my quirk and pointy objects. I dare say that my reputation was even worse than Katsuki's and that was saying something as that kid could be really… explosive when he wanted. Pfft... That was a good one. Hahaha. Ha…

Ehm.

Anyway before I noticed our six birthdays came and then few months later, our time in the kindergarten ended… I wasn't allowed to celebrate for long, though as another kind of nightmare was about start... _Elementary school._

xXxXxXx

I tugged at my skirt, feeling uncomfortable in a scratchy, restricting material. I grumbled in frustration when nothing changed and I still felt as if I was clothed in a glorified sack.

I was supposed to wear this… this _monstrosity_ for the next six years (of course over the years the clothes will be upgraded for bigger, but design will stay the same). Were they fucking serious?! How could someone get used to _this_?!

I glared at the boy walking next to me, Katsuki answering me with a glare of his own; his was more confused than angry, though. I groaned and looked ahead with my face contorted in misery.

If I could at least wear shorts then maybe _, maybe,_ I wouldn't complain so much, but nooo... There was this shitty rule that girls had to wear skirts and boys shorts... fan-fucking-tastic.

I raised my head to glare at the disgustingly blue sky, not a cloud in sight. Why was the weather so nice when I was clearly suffering here? I wanted everyone to feel the doom I felt right now.

...

This was ridiculous. I was already feeling so lousy and it was _only_ morning! Just thinking about what will happen later that day... ugh.

Today was our very first day as elementary-schoolers, thus our parents (Katsuki's and our mom) decided to meet up in the morning, so they could accompany us to the building together.

However, the thing was... after Izuku and me dressed, our mom started to cry and talk about her 'babies' growing up and she proceeded to crush life out of us. I managed to wiggle out and save at least myself when her hold came a little loose. I run for it and hid in the corner of our living room, looking regretfully at my brother, who wasn't so lucky to be able run away.

After few minutes she calmed down more or less... But then Katsuki came with his parent's and when she saw him dressed in his uniform, she started to bawl anew. Naturally, to not leave him out of this experience, she started to crush him too.

Of course, Masaru-san (father of the red eyed boy) didn't need to be spurred on and started to cry with her. After that it was just one big mess with two adults sobbing in the middle of our living room, my little brother fussing around them, trying to calm them down, Mitsuki-san (Katsuki's mother) laughing her ass off to the side and me and shorty hiding in the corner, looking completely traumatized.

...

They somewhat calmed down eventually and we 'set sails', talking a longer way around so that adults could compose themselves.

Of course, even during this walk I didn't have a peace I needed to psychically prepare myself to face my new classmates (I hoped I would be with Izuku and with some of the kids I knew from kindergarten... I wouldn't have to build my reputation from scratch that way). No, I received call from my grandparents – who wished us luck and congratulated(?) us, saying that starting elementary school was very important event in a child's life. I personally think that they should have congratulated me more for surviving thus far than this...

And I got a text from Chizome (he was too busy with training these days to properly call me), telling me to behave in school. Pssh, he wrote that like I was rude all day long... which I kind of was, true, but I treated like that usually only my peers – I _knew_ that being rude to teachers would be a stupid idea.

I stopped abruptly, catching a sleeve of Katsuki's coat when some crazy kid on bicycle rode right pass us. I frowned murderously and small things (stones, leaves,...) on the ground started to slowly inch towards me as I was lost in my emotions.

If we walked a little bit faster there could have been a _very_ painful collision. That guy didn't even properly _look_ where he was going!

I followed him with my gaze as he continued on his way without stopping, going through the gates of the school building we were headed into and thus completely slipping from my sight.

See, this was why I hated kids. Most of them were arrogant little shits that could care less about their surroundings.

I huffed shaking my head to clear my mind; this day was just getting better and better.

Deciding that it would be safer to stay close to adults, now that we neared school grounds (too much people, too little space – easy to get lost), I started to move towards the other half of our group, Katsuki's sleeve still in my hand.

He didn't protest, though he did shake my hand off once he caught sight of some of the kids from our group in kindergarten. I suppose being lead around by a girl was considered very 'unmanly'. I snorted and sent him a smirk; he shoved into me roughly and made sure to go in front of me, as if to say _he_ was the one who lead _me_.

I shook my head amusedly again. Boys.

We met up with others shortly (they weren't really that far, just few meters). Izuku greeted us with a wave from where he was holding mom's hand – he said he wanted to stay with her to cheer her up. I would have stayed too, but Katsuki was adamant to go ahead and 'lead the group' and somebody had to look after that stupid boy, so I took on that role.

After our reunion, we stayed close to each other to not get lost in the large crowd that gathered. I took mom's other hand and even Katsuki took one hand from each of his parents. His ears were beet red when he did that though and tried to look like he was forced to do it. I was hard-pressed to not show how extremely amused I was by his behavious. It was a little cute, too, therefore I decided against teasing him later... much.

After we arrived, we studied the big board before us, to find out in which class the tree of us were placed in. We simultaneously released relieved sighs when our parents told us that all three of us were packed together in 1-B.

I was _so_ glad that I was in class with my brother. And I guess Katsuki too... he was my brother's best friend and all.

I couldn't really read all those kanji on the board so I didn't know if there were any other familiar faces in the class with us (I heard there were a lot of schools in Musutafu town, so always having same classmates was never a certainty).

Anyway, so once we found our class, adults wished us luck and saying they would be back later, they were on their way (not without teary goodbyes, of course).

Our classroom looked normal. Tables, chairs, black board, grey walls, brown wooden floor... there were some colorful pictures on the walls but nothing too eye-catching.

We were one of the lasts ones to arrive so we shuffled quickly towards three tables that were near each other... and unfortunately very near to the teacher's table. In fact Katsuki was sitting in a first row, next to the window and _right in front_ of the teacher's table, Izuku was sitting behind him and me sitting to my brother's right (therefore I was in second row- still too close to the teacher for my taste).

Few minutes later our homeroom teacher came – uptight looking middle-aged lady that I already started to dislike after only few minutes with her being here.

She was _very_ condescending and while I could sort of see where she was coming from – she was adult in a class full of snotty little brats – she went very overboard with it. It was so _noticeable,_ too. I mean, almost everyone looked irked by her, not only me with my adult mind (I was nearing forty mentally... oh god, I was sooo old). I could see all too clearly how displeased I would be with her in the future.

I started to focus more on my surroundings after my brother's name was called. The boy in question stood up to introduce himself.

He took deep breath and with me sending him an encouraging smile and Katsuki waving him off as if saying to 'hurry up' (Katsuki already introduced himself. It was very... fiery introduction) he nodded to himself and started to speak in a soft voice.

"Um. My name is Midoriya Izuku. I am six years old and... and I don't have quirk." Whispers started after he said his status as 'quirkless' and deep frown appeared on my face.

Minami 'sensei' (I decided to use that term very loosely) explicitly said that she wants us to say our quirks, explaining that everyone could learn a lot about each other that way. Bullshit. As if knowing our quirks could change anything apart of the class dynamics.

Declaring our abilities so early and in the way of 'introduction' (the only one standing, the only one speaking, everyone's eyes on the unfortunate one who had to 'introduce') would only cause other kids to view quirks as something that was meant to be compared. Something that could determinate status of someone and his/her worth...

Of course, I _knew_ that this was how this society worked.

I mean if one were to compare shorty's quirk and mine (it happened a lot). One doesn't need a lot of time to decide which one was better. His was flashier, louder and overall seen as the best quirk one could ask for. Mine? Attraction? Pfft, so lame. Nobody wanted that - other's opinion, not mine of course. I was quite fond of my quirk.

This was the truth... but I didn't really expect the conditioning to start so early.

I suppose it was an oversight on my part as it was kind of clear in the way other kids made fun of Izuku _even_ in kindergarten. Having useless quirk or _god forbid_ not having one was like being invalid. The less matured ones would point on that person and make fun of something that was out of their reach to change.

Pencil I was holding in my hand creaked ominously, because I was to squeezing it too strongly. I shook my head and dismissed such thoughts - now wasn't time to be distracted. I had to make sure nobody would even _think_ about teasing my brother. I took deep breath and was about to make a speech about how inadvisable it would be for them to make fun of my brother, when Katsuki exploded.

Literally exploded, I mean. There was loud _*boom*_ and fire erupted from his hands, extinguishing once it traveled around meter from his hand. Everyone quieted and watched him with wide eyes (except me and Izuku, we just had an expression of someone who was too used to this shit) even teacher stopped being her superior bitchy self.

"Shut your traps, you ass-hats. My _best-friend_ isn't done talking," he said with pretty spooky expression on his face. I snorted quietly and leaned into my chair comfortably. Or I could do nothing and let shorty solve situation this time.

My twin beamed at the other boy and continued his introduction (only after Katsuki was scolded... he totally didn't listen), now sounding more confident than before. He said his likes (heroes – All Might mainly, his family and friends), dislikes (tomatoes, mean people, wasps) and of course his dream to become a hero. I made sure to glare at anyone who was about to laugh.

Next was me, of course. I didn't really care about first impressions and ridiculous things like that so I just decided to be short and say most important things.

"Name's Midoriya Kou. That boy over there is my brother, touch him and you are dead," I stated softly but confidently. I was about to sit, but realized that I didn't say my quirk, so as an afterthought I added: "Quirk is an attraction." Summoning random boy's book to myself to specify _which_ attraction I was talking about. Completely content with my introduction this time I threw book back to the boy and sprawled into my seat again, happy to observe hilarious reactions of others around me.

"Nee-chan…" I heard my twin mumble, so as a good sister I looked his way. He was looking at me with his best 'Are you for real' face. I sent him a toothy grin and tilted my head in an innocent manner. He huffed and shook his head, exchanging amused glances with the boy before him.

"Midoriya-chan, I am sure you had the best intentions, but please, don't threaten your classmates," was said to me by our homeroom teacher. I just looked at her blankly. I was dead serious about my words. Though maybe, I would only beat them up. Killing was too messy. Also I would need to hide their corpses after that... eh wait, she was still talking.

"- all you want to say? What about your likes? Dreams?"

Oh, this. I could have just continued to ignore her, then. Though, I was told to behave myself...

"Why? If someone is curious about me, they can ask me directly," I said in the end. See? I could be polite when I wanted. Although the woman before probably didn't agree as stress-marks appeared on her forehead. I lifted my eyebrow, neatly ignoring my brother's pleading gaze boring into the side of my head, and had a silent stare-down with her.

In the end I won and she called another classmate of mine. I turned to face my brother with pleased smile and was not surprised to find him hiding his head in his arms, an air of doom surrounding him.

I'd say I did a very good job to with my first impression, heh? I started to play with my cracked pencil, sending it from one hand to the other, not really caring about what other kids had to say. I knew some of them and I'll get to known others over the next six years.

xXxXxXx

Honestly, when we were given our timetables and told what was expected of us that year... I wanted to kill myself there and then. But! I decided to wait a little; I was still a little hopeful that it wouldn't be _so bad_.

Oh, no, no it wasn't really that bad... it was even _worse_.

And the reason wouldn't be so much my brats of classmates or even our bitchy homeroom teacher... no... it was a _kanji_.

Yup, those squiggly symbols that each had thousands different meanings if used with different similar horrendously looking symbols. My head ringed horribly after each and every class of Japanese language.

I preserved my sanity only because I didn't suffer alone- my brother and Katsuki had to attend them with me, too. Though those two didn't have nearly as big problems with written language as I had- I was immensely miffed by that fact.

I didn't really get _why_ I had so many problems with it as I did learn more than one language (Italian, Russian) in my first life. Learning another shouldn't have been _that_ hard! I mean, I already lived in this world for several years, speaking mostly in Japanese, so what the hell?... Will I have to suffer like this for the remainder of my life?!

Haaah... My head is starting to hurt just by thinking about those horrendous symbols now.

In any case my first year in elementary school was awful. I could describe it like this:

...

"Please. Please, tell me that we don't have Japanese language next," I asked desperately my brother, already very close to mental-breakdown.

"Oh, wait. I'll look right away," said Izuku and started to rummage through his bag. Though, before he could find our time-table, the boy sitting behind him already had the answer.

"We don't." When he answered me, Katsuki had wide smile on his face. I looked at him warily. He only smiled like that when he was about to shatter all my hopes.

"We have... Japanese calligraphy." He snickered unpleasantly.

 _*Thud*_

I hit the desk with my head loudly, making sound of a dying whale in the process, snickers and giggles of two boys accompanying my distressed howl.

...

Just,Pure,Hell.

The only bright side was that Math was always same, no matter the country. Therefore, still retaining my basic knowledge of that subject, I managed to star in at least something. Coupled with my high grades in Psychical education... I managed to be become an average student overall.

I counted that as a victory, all things considered.

Second year was a little better as my brain got used to the written language and learning new kanji was a little more bearable for me. I still had shitty grades, but I passed so whatever.

That year mom finally found some kind of dojo that allowed Izuku to join. It was surprisingly hard to find as every dojo owner looked down on my brother because he didn't have any special ability – fucking arrogant pigs. Just because my brother didn't have quirk, didn't mean he couldn't hold his ground against someone with quirk.

I said 'dojo' but it was more of a 'self-defense program' where kids and adults alike learned how to properly make fist so one doesn't broke his/hers fingers, how to punch, how to position one's body when defending or attacking... things like these.

It were all just basics that I could have theoretically taught him myself (though I couldn't explain comprehensibly to save my life, so I didn't even try), but it was _better_ when he was taught them by someone qualified. Later he would need to find other teacher/dojo to learn specific fighting style, but for now it was good that he was learning at least basics.

With him starting his lessons after school and Katsuki still attending classes where he learned to properly control his quirk, I was left alone for an hour or two…

In my free time I usually beat up guys that made fun of Izuku earlier that day (and I didn't have time to properly beat them up before) or some other thugs that grated on my nerves. It was kind of fun and therapeutic to have some alone time to myself in which I beat up somebody without worrying they would tell a living soul about it (like, just tell police a little girl beat you up).

Another thing that changed would be that my little kitty finally graced my with a permission to pat her head without her trying to claw my eyes out... haaah... good times.

We had our annual visit of grandparents where nothing worth mentioning happened... except that I saw this strange pink haired girl with pink skin and little horns on her head... weird.

Also I had a feeling I saw that black haired boy from before, too. However I made sure to go other way (just to be safe), so I am not sure.

Our third year started and we had our very first field trip. We didn't go that far, only hour or so away from our home by bus, however we went out of Kanto region so it was a super big 'occasion'. We slept in a hotel in the mountains. The air there was pretty nice and overall it was very swell trip. I learned a bit more about my classsmates that way, too.

There is nothing more to say about that year... just regular hell in school with our bitchy homeroom teacher being even bitchier that year. There was a rumor circulating around that her fiancé ran away with other woman two days before their planned wedding... if she wasn't such unpleasant individual I would feel a little bad for her... as it was, I was only congratulating the man in my head for his good decision.

We successfully entered grade four and became ten year olds. We had small party with Bakudos and had this big two-tier birthday cake that I instantly pounced on when I saw it. It was the best birthday's present... Izuku disagreed and said his hero costume was better and we had this silly word-fight where we pointed out why our chosen presents were the best.

On the party there weren't any of our classmates because outside of our little circle, we didn't really have any other friends.

We were usually avoided, honestly.

Katsuki was avoided by people because of his explosive and intimidating self. There _were_ some that wanted to get close to him because of his cool quirk, but he all sent them somewhere where the sun doesn't shine when they started badmouth Izuku and me. He could be sweet like that sometimes if he wanted. Generally, others knew that staying out of his way was the best course of action.

Izuku wasn't avoided, per se. Others talked to him and were kind to him but they knew not to cross certain boundaries when it came to him. He was best friend with the coolest kid in class and had overprotective sister that wasn't above to hit someone that even looked at him the way she didn't like. So they were wary to get too close and kept the comfortable distances (except stupid bullies, but they were mostly from other classes and were trashed accordingly by my brilliant self). I was feeling guilty sometimes that I was the reason he didn't have a lot of friends, but he looked happy as he was, so hey, I'd say it wasn't that big problem.

And then there was me. I won the award 'Biggest asshole of the year' this year, too. I am so proud of myself. Ehm, Anyway. I was avoided, because... I was unapproachable like that. Sure, if they were civil to me, I would be a little less rude to them. If they were crude, well... I still remember that one time in second grade when I somehow managed to make class full of four graders cry... just don't ask.

I think my best relationship was with this nice Shiozaki girl that was sitting behind me in class. We always paired up in psychical education or in class projects that required of us to form pairs - my brother was always snatched away by shorty, thus the other girl was a godsend. She actually had the same problem as me – her two other friends paired with each other, too.

She was honest and straightforward so I quite liked her company. She was okay for a little brat, I suppose. I actually kind of invited her for our birthday party, but she fell ill and couldn't arrive.

So yeah... our tenth birthdays were behind us.

Later that year Izuku officially finished his 'self-defense program' and because we weren't very successful in finding him a new teacher, he decided to invent his own fighting stile... of course largely based on All Might's one.

I shrugged and said he should go for it. I could have hypothetically taught him mine... Or more precisely my _official_ fighting style – when I beat up people my age or had 'spars' with Katsuki I used my 'punch it if it's still moving strategy' - I wasn't really coordinated and my moves weren't anything special. That was the point of it really, these fights were only for fun and not to be taken seriously.

I didn't usually use my 'official style'. I only used it that one time with Chizome and I guess I sort of used it on thugs that I beat up on regular basic. They were adults - they had an advantage of height and strength on me, thus I had to be inventive if I wanted to struck them down. I played very dirty and used everything to my advantage - even my quirk. It worked quite nicely with my fighting style, actually.

Though... calling it a 'style' would be a stretch. I just moved and positioned my body to target parts of the body, that were the most delicate - gaining advantage like that and using it towards the fastest and easiest victory. It was... it was kind of fun too, as I had to always stay on my toes, always move, always think about my next move, but... there was a certain risk when I fought like this.

It could be very dangerous for my opponent (and sometimes even me). If I was too careless with aiming my punches or measuring my strength, I could very easily cripple or even kill person. Some spots on human body were fragile like that.

And don't get me started on how deadly I could be when using knifes (though I didn't really had any need to use them in this life...). With my small height I could easily sever tendons, target blood vessels and other 'dandy' places like that.

Ehm I become a little lost there.

Anyway! I don't think he would be interested in learning something like that… I didn't _want_ him to be interested.

Coincidentally Katsuki ended his 'control classes' around the same time, so those two decided to spar regularly, so Izuku could gain some 'fighting experience'.

My brother wanted to spar with me too, but I denied that with all my being – I refuse to lift a hand against my twin, even if it was _only_ a spar. Therefore I just played referee for them. But they were really careful to not harm the other so I was unnecessary, therefore I sometimes decided to just leave them to it and instead I visited my big 'friends' for a friendly 'spar'. It's really hilarious that some of them now started to run away if they caught sight of me... big grown-up men running away from tiny little girl... hah this will never be not-funny.

Also funnily enough that year I had my very first problem with authorities of school. I was careless and was seen beating up three random guys.

Earlier that day, they were forcing some boy to give them his lunch money and as I was in a good mood in that moment, I decided to help him. Izuku and Katsuki had to stay behind as they had cleaning duties, so I was alone.

Unfortunately some shitty teacher decided to walk onto the scene just in the moment I was finishing the last of them.

It was mine words against theirs, plus the guy I wanted to help decided to back their story up - fucking coward. So yeah I received this big scolding by the said teacher and later by my bitchy homeroom teache. And after that I was forced to apologize to those assholes. What a shitty day.

I was told I'll have an after-school detention for a month after which I was sent home with a note explaining what happened. It was expected to get signed by my parent and returned the very next day. They said that I should be glad the punishment was this mild - the reason being that this was my first break of rules (Ha! Joke is on them because I was doing this almost every day).

Well, whatever, I explained everything to mom at home and as she knew that I wasn't one to beat someone up without reason (or... at least not kids), she believed my version of the story and was outraged that someone would punish me when I only wanted to help. I told her to let it go – I didn't really mind detention that much, I could draw and do stuff to entertain myself during it.

She eventually agreed to not press it further, but she was still very unsettled by it.

Then Izuku arrived home and asked what happened when he saw our mom's troubled face, I just told him that I had detention and left it at that. He looked as if he wanted to ask for more information, but I waved him of, saying that he would hear it in school tomorrow anyway. I had no doubt in my mind that by tomorrow's lunchtime everyone would know what happened.

On second thought... I thought about how rumors worked and how events would be inflated... I decided to tell him what happened anyway.

He had the same reaction as mom, but I manged to calm him down, too.

The very next day my prediction about how everything will be stretched proved true. Of course they did and they painted a very nasty image of me. Oh, whatever, not like my reputation was nice before it.

Shiozaki and Katsuki chose to believe my side of the story, so I'd say that was all that mattered. I shrugged it off and continued on with my life.

Though I _did_ decide to change something... I upgraded Ibara (Shiozaki's first name) from acquaintance to friend after that. She deserved that at least after she put with me for so long. We weren't very close... but I supposed we _were_ friends.

At any rate, I tried to be more careful from that point on and I managed to somehow avoid detention for the remainder of the year. However, even with this, I was already marked as the biggest troublemaker and delinquent of the grade four what with my low grades in almost all subject except Math, PE and Art and my not very friendly personality. Rude much? Whatever, I wasn't trying to become model student there, I would settle for at least passing, honestly.

With five grade came the thing I was waiting for... an English Language! My time to shine!

Truly... nobody expected for me to be so good in this subject what with how poor I did in Japanese language. Hah! That felt so good.

Anyway, because this new subject lifted my spirits tremendously, I decided to join some club that year.

I joined drawing club… which in the end turned out to be a glorified comic club or more precisely 'manga club' as this was Japan and they had their own style of comics. I wanted to turn around and end it right there and then when I learned this truth, but something told me to wait. And well... I soon learned that I quite enjoyed to make my own comic. I guess if I couldn't decide what I wanted to do in the future, I could always try to work as manga artist.

Later that year I received very interesting message from Chizome in which he informed me that he kind of lost half of his nose in a fight... I was appalled to say the least. I called him back instantly and continued to call him until he decided to pick it up.

I had _a lot_ to say to him. Starting with how irresponsible and stupid he was. Then after half hour or so I allowed him to explain what happened.

I learned that around one year ago he started to attend various underground rings to gain fighting experience. Okay, sure, that made sense. I wouldn't really have anything against it, if he actually informed me about it _sooner_ and not only after he fucked up. I made that point _very_ clear to him; I received an insincere apology in return. I ended the call after that telling him to go die for all I cared.

God, he was so frustrating sometimes. I didn't answer any of his text for following month to show exactly _how much_ I was displeased with him.

But hey, I had become a big softie over the years, so I eventually started to text with him normally again... it was his choice to attend those creepy underground battles and it wasn't like I was any better with my regular fights with thugs (though I at least knew when to stop - something my friend clearly didn't know).

My fifth year of elementary came to an end... and then we were in our last year and very much stressed about which Junior high school to join. In the end, the tree of us – I, Izuku and Bakugo - decided to choose the closest one as it wasn't hard to get there, even with my grades.

There weren't any entrance tests, too, so it was perfect.

Unfortunately Ibara decided to go into this fancy all-girls school, so I didn't think we would ever have a chance to see each other again after Elementary officially ends. That thought made me a little sad.

I was... very hopeful to end this year without any disastrous events. But... then the last month came and with it something that I wasn't prepared for... though I suppose I could have seen it coming.

I guess I didn't learn properly from the mistake I made in the past in my relationship with Theo.

* * *

The end~

And cliffhanger! I know - what a shitty move on my part XD. It wasn't really planned... but I was too lazy to write the next part, so cliffhanger. I plan to get out the next chapter this month, so that I could get to the entrance exam arc before the start of the school - let's hope I'll succed.

Also, just if someone is curious... I went over wiki, manga and real maps of Japan and decided that Kou's birthplace will be _Kanagawa Prefecture_ \- it was never said where Izuku lives, the only thing that is stated on wiki is 'Near Shizuoka Prefecture' and Kanagawa is right next to it, so I suppose I am not that off-track. Kou's gradparent's live in _Chiba Prefecture_.

 _Reviews:_

 _animagirl \- I am glad you like those parts! Hmm… well I can't really say I'll do that… in fact I don't really plan to change Izuku's 'fighting style' (if he even has any to speak of in anime). He will just be better prepared._

 _CallmeCrazylol \- Nope. Sorry - I think her quirk is already quite OP as it is now._

 _TheHolyBlade – Haha. I love what you did with 'Guest comment'. I sincerely hope that you will soon remember your password. I suppose that _ was _said in manga, but bear in mind that this Chizome is a little different from the one in manga. He is younger for one and he didn't have his first kill that no doubt cemented his resolve. This Chizome was just teenager that lost his parents and didn't know what to do anymore… he still has a long way to go towards the adult with 'bone- chilling resolve'. Though I suppose, now he is quite old? Hmmm I dislike big time-skips, but they are necessary. Clever writer? Nah, I don't think so, I am incapable to think that far ahead most of time. I suppose we will see what I'll do with his character. Kou and Yuuei… hah, it will be interesting, that's all I can say. XD Don't worry about me reading too much text, I personally really love when someone tells me about his/her thoughts on my fanfiction… I am always so giddy and I go overboard myself._

 _Wicken25 – Yeah… about his quirk. I had some really big plans for his quirk. But in the end I had to scrap away all of that as this ff won'i go in that direction anymore. I am very sorry if you were excited about it. It will be just be a background interesting information now…_

 _Guest Jun 20 – They will meet, don't worry. Um… saves her plus? I don't know what you were trying to say._

 _Merlin's Knight – Yep! That was actually one of the reason I started to write this fanfiction... to make Izuku and Kacchan besties (and Kou being a little duck that follows her brother everywhere… and thus develops friendship with shorty in the process). I am glad you like her quirk! I though very long about that… and decided on attraction because… just think about all these possibilities!_

 _Iroxanamiranda \- Hello! :3 Aaaw~ thank you! Oh yeah... Stain and Iida, I suppose you will see. Though don't worry, I like Iida and his brother, so… yeah XD I am glad you like their relationship! _

_Cho Cho \- I am happy to hear that~._

 _Anto1317 \- Oooh, really? That makes me so happy (sorry, hehe). Aaw~ thank you for such a nice review! ... mostly XD  
_

 _Sera \- Thank you! Talking about turns... one is incoming in the next chapter. _


	11. Our greatest glory

This storry passed 300 folows! This is crazy! I love you all!  
Because my fantastic **beta OTrizy** thinks that I need to add a warning for you all to not be so surprised of what will happen in this chapter, let me just warn you in advance: in this chapter a minor will drink alcohol and smoke. Also this chapter may contain unexpected OOC-ness and angst. It really depends on your point of view.

(I am so sorryyyy)

 _Quote: "Our greatest glory isn't in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."- Confucius_

* * *

I propped my chin in the palm of my right hand, feeling utterly bored. From the corner of my eyes, I saw my brother, trying to not doze off and Katsuki who completely gave up and was now sprawled over his table, sleeping soundly.

I tilted my head in consideration. Sleep didn't sound so bad. I looked at our teacher at the front of the classroom. She was trying to bore us, talking on and on about how we should think about our future and be careful to choose the right school. I snorted quietly and shook my head in amusement. She was saying the same shit for a few weeks now; it was a little sad that she still didn't realize nobody listened to her.

I observed her critically and weighted pros and cons of falling asleep. If she noticed me, she would scold me and give me one-day long detention - I already knew this from experience. She was unfair like this – Katsuki was allowed to sleep through her lectures without problems, all because he had good grades in her subject (she taught chemistry - I hated that subject just because she was the one teaching it).

Hmm… today was Friday, thus she wouldn't be able to give me detention for tomorrow. So I'd say I go for it.

I placed both of my hands on the table and with a content sigh, I settled my head atop of them. Closing my eyes and was about to drift into the land of dreams… however, I was interrupted by a nastily sounding cough that sounded too close for my comfort.

I opened one eye and sent ugly look at the person standing next to my desk. How did she get here so fast? Was she actually waiting for this moment or what? A frown made an appearance on my face as the woman next to me opened her mouth.

"I am boring you, Midoriya-chan?" My teacher asked in very biting tone.

I bit my tongue to prevent an automatic response of 'Yes you are'. Instead, I straightened in my chair gracefully and bared my teeth in a parody of a smile, knowing full well how unsettling I was to other people when I did that. I heard the rustling of clothes as the attention of others was drawn to us, they were undoubtedly looking forwards to the show. I think I even heard soft groan and light slap - my brother - and irritated sleepy murmur, followed by a snort – made by no other than woken up Katsuki.

Great, I always appreciated a good audience.

"No, not at all sensei," I answered pleasantly, trying to be polite. Only a few weeks remained, staying out of trouble until that sounded like a good idea.

"Is that so? Then mind telling me, why you are sleeping in my class? I am trying to prepare you to the best of my abilities. My words will help guide for the years to come and you just sleep through everything?" she said a little too loudly. I tilted my head; she was taking this too seriously. What was her problem? Was this personal?

"I was not sleeping actually; I was only in the process of falling asleep." I replied caustically before I could stop myself. I tried to be civil, okay? Nobody could say that I didn't. This just slipped…

Totally not regretting though when In my smile sharp said

"You… You…" Eeeh lady, I think people aren't supposed to be that purple in the face.

"Yes?"

"Do you really think someone with your grades could afford to not pay attention to me?!" She snapped out scathingly. I lifted my eyebrow. Using my grades now? Wow, what a bitch. Not that I was that much bothered to be her words – I think I did pretty good in school, all things considered. But I wasn't about to let her walk over me…

"Yes, that's actually what I think. It's not like I will hear something new or important anyway," I said with a sharp smile, enjoying the way her eyebrows scrunched together in anger.

"You-" she said barked, but suddenly she pause and calmed down and an unpleasant smile appeared on her face. I was instantly on my guard and smile fell off my face. "Do you know what you are going to do in the future then, Midoriya-chan? If you think you don't need to listen to me…"

"Well, I am already accepted into Orudera Junior High School," I answered carefully, not really knowing where she was going with the sudden change of topic. She already knew this.

"Oh? That's nice. And then what?"

"I will follow my brother's choice of school. "

"Oh yes. He wants to be a hero, right?" She turned to face my brother and I bristled at the condescending tone she used.

My hand twitched, an urge to punch that smug face rising in me. I bared my teeth and with a look that promised pain, I dared her to add something. I would have _loved_ to hit her.

But she didn't follow up; instead, she walked back to the front, continuing her 'lesson' as if nothing happened. She left me fuming in my seat, irritated and certainly not falling asleep anytime soon.

xXxXxXx

I shoved my school supplies into bag angrily, not minding that I creased my notes and other papers that way. Saying I was _furious_ would be an understatement of the year.

That _bitch_ …

Did she think that just because she was a teacher, she could talk to people this way?! I endured her behavior through all six years, but she crossed the line today. Nobody made fun of my family without me striking back, twice as violently. I just needed to be more indigenous with the retaliation this time as I didn't want it to be traced back to me. Mark my thoughts; however, I will make her pay for this. Was I sounding too bloodthirsty? Good, let's keep it like that.

Once I had everything in my bag, I turned around to look if my brother was done with his packing as well. I was surprised to find no one where my brother was supposed to be. I searched for him around the room in confusion. He never left without me, except times I had cleaning duty and even then he made sure to tell me he was leaving.

I bit my lip when I didn't catch a sight of him. He was behaving weirdly for some time now - he no longer joined me in my morning exercises (with him stopping, Katsuki stopped too… the routine felt strangely lonely these days) and instead started to spend more time in our room, writing into a notebook he refused to show me (I once caught kanji for 'hero' on the cover). He spoke less in class too and overall was behaved more withdrawn…

I don't know when it started. Maybe it was gradual and I was just ignorant… When I asked him about it, he only smiled and said that it was my imagination and that he was totally fine. However, his smile was just a tiny bit strained…

I… I am not good with this stuff. I mean, with Theo, he always told me what was wrong, I didn't need to ask. And it was usually things I couldn't do anything about – like him worrying that he wouldn't be accepted into a school he wanted. Only one time we had a disagreement between us and well… I don't want to think about that.

Anyway, because I didn't want to pry, I left it like that, hoping that it was only puberty. Nobody bullied him – which I was sure of as I chased away everyone before they could even start. Maybe I was thinking too much into this?

Ugh… let's just ask shorty if he knows where my brother went. Too much thinking is bad for your head.

Deciding that, I walked towards the boy that was currently stretching behind his desk because _someone_ didn't make a fuss about him falling asleep. Irritation sparkling in me again, I threw my very heavy backpack onto his desk. The loud sound startling the yawning boy and making him sit up straight.

"W-what the fuck? Why did you do that you shitty hag?!" he growled when he made a note of who was the cause of the noise. Not feeling all that good at the moment, I decided to ignore his question and instead I came right to the point.

"Do you know where Izuku went?"

He stopped glowering at me and instead lifted an eyebrow at my question. My own twitched in annoyance. He was taking too damn long to answer.

"He didn't tell you? The teacher wanted to discuss something with him. Told me that I could go ahead," he finally answered with a shrug. I nodded silently in thanks and started to slowly shuffle away, thoughts of why _I_ wasn't told circulating in my head. Did I do something wrong? Sure I back-talked to the teacher before, but that was nothing new. Right, so I don't really know what I could have done…

If something was the matter he shouldn't be afraid to tell me, we were twins after all.

I reached gate soon but instead of walking through and going home, I decided to sit on the grass, leaning my back on a stone fence.

Ignoring questioning looks of my classmates, I sat in silence until I spotted my brother's dark green curls. I jumped on my feet and neared him, an uncertain smile on my face. However, even this smile fell when I saw his troubled expression.

"Otouto…? Are you okay?" I asked him once I was near enough. He jumped at my question and his eyes widened. He tried to mask everything the next second with a smile, but it looked so fake. It was like a punch in the stomach.

"Nee-chan why-" I didn't let him finish. I placed my hands on his shoulders and I bent slightly (I was taller than him as he was still waiting for his growth spurt) to have my eyes on the same level as his. My grip was gentle but firm and the smile I hated the moment it appeared on his face, slipped away to make room for a confused frown. He looked anywhere but at me and I fought an urge to storm the whole grounds in search of whoever made him like that.

"Izuku," I called seriously. My tone forced him to look right into my eyes.

"What happened? Which teacher called you? Was it that bitch? What did she say?!" I continued to fire questions without waiting for a reply, too enraged in that moment. After few seconds I had to stop to take a deep breath as I forgot to properly breathe in my agitated state.

Once I was sure had enough air again, I was about to start my interrogation a new, but I was stopped by my brother.

"Nothing happened nee-chan. Really. Let's go home," after saying this he gently pried away from my hands and started to walk away. I closed and opened my mouth few times, words failing me. In the end, I let my mouth fall shut with a loud clack and followed after my brother's retreating form.

When I managed to catch up to him, I positioned myself to his right and carefully observed his expression. He looked as if he was so deep in thought that he didn't even realize I was looking at him intently. After few seconds I turned my head away to face the path before us, confused and frustrated thoughts circling through my mind.

What should I do…?

My gaze snapped to the right at the playground we just passed. We used to play in there a lot when we were younger. Deciding quickly, I snatched my brother's hand, making him yelp in surprise. Entering the playground, I dragged him towards a pair of swings.

Playground and swings should set a familiar and relaxing atmosphere… right?

I let go of his hand once we reached our destination and feeling nervous all of a sudden I laughed uneasily.

"Haha… We still have some time before dinner, right? So… so I thought we can play a little… have some bonding brother-sister time, huh?" When he continued to be silent with an expression I couldn't decipher. I shuffled in place restlessly. Deciding that I needed to hold onto something, I walked over to one of the swings.

My hands were clammy therefore when I took hold of the swing's chain; it nearly slipped out of my hold.

I was feeling so out of my depth, it wasn't even funny. Even when we found out Izuku was quirkless, even when Chizome had a meltdown before me, even when at times I felt lost and uncertain of this new life, I still had something that I could hold onto… memory, feeling, an emotion that guided me through that situation. Now, however… I couldn't find anything in myself. I felt small and insignificant. I wanted to scream out and release all my confusion/frustration/anxiety.

My grip on the chain intensified to the point where it hurt. I didn't really register that though, fully concentrating on the more pressing matters. Like my quiet brother.

The silence was too much for me after a while and I decided to speak up again.

"Um… I liked when we played on swings… You would sit in one and I would push you… gradually pushing you higher and higher… you always laughed a lot…" I continued to babble on and on about how we played in past.

I trailed off when my brother turned his head away to look across the playground at a group of kids playing in a sandbox. I bit my lip. God, I was so pathetic. I was mentally more than forty years old. Get a grip woman. I took a shaky breath and opened my mouth again.

"Uh, wanna try it again? You can sit here and I will put-" I paused abruptly when he released a heavy sigh.

"You still see me as a kid, huh…"

What…?

"I am already twelve, nee-chan! I am no longer that boy you have to constantly look after, I can take care of myself!" he said in a rush as he walked few steps towards me. I took a step back, chain slipping from my cold hands. I couldn't muster any strength to speak, but I didn't have to as my brother still wasn't done talking.

"But you still… still… do you really think I am that incompetent?!"

"N-no… I don't…" I stuttered out finally, but I was once again interrupted.

"You, you clearly think so!" he exclaimed loudly. I took another step back, my eyes wide.

What… what was happening now. I couldn't follow.

"Y-you solve all my problems without me knowing. You don't let me stand for myself. You always follow me anywhere – are you worried I hurt myself falling down, or what? The only times you don't breathe down my neck are when you have club activities or you decide to 'disappear' for a few hours. What's with that anyway? I can't be left to roam freely but you can just disappear to fight with who knows who?! D-don't think I didn't notice those bruises and scratches you have on you when you return…"

I blinked repeatedly. Was I, was I really that much of a stalker? I just… I was worried someone would bully him and… afraid. Afraid that if I weren't next to him most of time, something would happen to him, like it did to Theo and I couldn't… wouldn't be able to keep going if I lost Izuku.

"A-anyway! That's not important now! What I am trying to say is… is…that I… " he fumbled for words and I continued to look at him, morbid curiosity growing in me. I knew I wouldn't like what he had to say, but I still wanted to hear it.

"…You?" I pushed softly.

"I h-h-hate that part of you!" he yelled at the end, eyes clamped down and fists clenched.

Hate…?

I jerked back as if struck, my brother's words making my stomach churn. I felt dizzy and ice-cold, my hands were clammy and sweat was going down my temples. I tried to calm down by taking deep breaths, but as if I suddenly forgot how to breathe, I could only take short, shallow ones.

I bit my lower lip and clenched my fists enough to draw blood in order to quench my growing panic. The sharp pain helped to ground me a little. Or at least enough for me to concentrate on my surroundings again. I noticed that small rocks and leaves, which undoubtedly flew into the air because of my quirk, were lying around me in small heaps. The playground was now deserted, kids from before had to run always somewhere during my near panic attack. I suppose sudden mini tornado would scare anyone, though my brother wasn't even aware something like that happened and was still shouting with eyes tightly closed.

With some difficulty I forced myself to concentrate on his words, only my pure-will preventing me from breaking down into tears here and there.

"… any idea how I feel? You are always t-there. You protect me, help me, do everything for me, I've never once seen you worrying about yourself! I feel so useless and powerless and I hate that because heroes are supposed to be the ones that protect. How could I ever become one if I stayed like this, hiding behind your skirt? I can n-never be a man everyone can look up to if I am constantly smothered by my sister…"

"And… And everyone says it's such a pity you don't have any ambition to become a hero because you are the one with more potential. You have a quirk - that you manage to use in many ways others thought were impossible before. You excel in anything physical-related and you are hard to overlook with your personality. You are stronger, flashier and more noticeable… you are so much b-better in every way. And I know that this isn't your fault, this is just the way you are and I can't change anything by being miserable, but I am so tired of constantly being in your shadow and I am so sick of being jealous. I hate that I feel like this. I want to feel happy for you and just to be a supportive brother, because _this is not your fault_ , I am just being stupid. And I shouldn't s-shout at you like this but I can't think straight and I just… I just…"

I let his words wash over me as I looked at him with dull eyes. I was in no state to process what was said to me, but I made sure to register every word of it- I made him feel like this, I deserved every last of these painful words. I was there… but at the same time, I wasn't.

I stood there quietly with a perfectly blanked face. After a while, Izuku's stopped talking and was instead breathing heavily in order to take back the breath he lost.

Tears were flowing down my brother's face and I while I wanted to take him into my arms and soothe him, I didn't have enough mental strength left to do that. Just one push and all my efforts to stay composed would crumble. I needed to stay like this just little longer. I couldn't afford to break down. Not now.

I didn't speak even when the silence stretched for minutes. In the end, it was Katsuki's surprising arrival that broke the sudden stillness of the playground.

"What happened? I heard yelling and…" the older boy trailed off when he looked properly at our current states. It must have been a sight; two distraught kids, one crying his eyes out and other with bloody lips and hands. His sharp eyes looked between the two us, slow realization appearing in them He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, my brother turned around and bolted away.

I was about to yell at him to stop, but I reconsidered it the next second. I gazed down on the ground, stained with few drops of my own blood and stomped an urge to follow him, knowing that it wouldn't be appreciated by my sibling in his current state.

The rustle of clothes made me snap my head to the side, my gaze landing on the red-eyed boy. What was he still doing here? He should be following my brother, he needed a friend now. Not having enough energy to muster my best glare, I only opened my mouth and willed my sluggish tongue to form words.

"Why are you still here?" I croaked hollowly, not caring about the way my voice made him shiver and his eyes to narrow.

"I…" he started but one look at my expressionless face made him stop whatever he was about to say. Instead, he scratched his head and started to swear too quickly and quietly for me to discern each word. I had a feeling I would be impressed in his vocabulary if the situation was different, though.

After he was done with whatever that was supposed to be, he started to walk towards the woods, frustrated frown on his face.

I sighed quietly in relief. Izuku was in good hands now. My hands started to shake slightly. I willed them to calm down. Not now, not in front of Katsuki and not in a place where anybody could see.

I felt soft touch on my shoulder. I jerked violently and raised my hand to punch the stupid person who crept on me. However, I stalled my hand when I realized it was only the ash-haired boy. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at my hand that was few centimeters from his face. My only answer was a blank stare; however, I _did_ let my hand fall down.

I was about to force myself to speak again, though before I could, I was stopped by the sound of a fabric being ripped up. I peered down at his hands in confusion.

He tore off a short strip from his green shirt and was now showing it into my clammy hand. I stared at it uncomprehendingly.

"You know… Izuku isn't the only one I consider my friend…" he said softly. My eyes widened and I lifted my gaze from the fabric in my hand to stare at him, but by that time he already whirled around and ran away in search of my brother.

…

… stupid …

My shoulders started to tremble and I raised both of my hands in front of my mouth to muffle any sounds I could release. Rocks and leaves started to rotate slightly in place as I continued to lose and regain control of my powers in irregular intervals.

Wanting to feel as if I was hidden from other eyes at least a little; I dragged myself behind the nearest tree. I slid down the tree bark and used one hand to embrace both of my legs, pressing them to me. I placed my head on my knees, tremors now going through my whole body.

Katsuki is so stupid.

Izuku too, why did he wait so long to tell me his true feelings? I was strong, I could bear them.

I chuckled without any humor behind it. The chuckles transformed into muffled sobs. Yeah, I was coping so _greatly_ now, huh? Mere minutes ago I was seconds away from panic attack… Was I really so unstable? My grip on my legs tightened.

How could I be so inconsiderate? How come I've never noticed that my brother was silently suffering? I always prided myself in being observant individual… but clearly, I was so, so blind.

xXxXxXx

I rubbed roughly my puffy eyes and leaned back my head against a bark of a tree, gazing at a blue sky dazedly. I was crying for a long time… It wouldn't be far-fetched to say that few hours passed.

"Haaaa…" I sighed mournfully. I would need to head home soon; mom would be worried if I didn't appear for dinner at least. A quick look at my watch told me I had around half an hour until I would need to head back.

My brother was probably already there… I made a pained expression.

The dinner would be awkward affair tonight. Izuku would feel guilty after what he said and wouldn't dare to look at me and mom wouldn't know what to do to cheer us up. Praying for what happened wouldn't do much but to make the atmosphere even more uncomfortable, too, so she would give up eventually. And I… well I would probably stay silent, not looking at anyone.

I didn't want to go.

I looked to the side at a phone lying innocently on the ground. My face contorted into chagrined grimace. Sometime during my crying episode, I had this really weak moment in which I just wanted to hear someone's voice… so I called the very first contact I came across, which turned out to be Chizome. I don't want to recall what I babbled into the phone during our short call so all I can say for sure was that I was a huge mess. Gosh, how could I ever face him after this? Good thing that he was too busy at the moment, therefore, I didn't have to –

"Finally found you."

The familiar gruff voice made me snap out of my daze and I promptly twisted my head to the side, only to set my eyes on the one I wished I wouldn't meet for the rest of my life. My eyes grew bigger and I scrambled to my feet, feeling a cross between alarm and mortification.

Fuck. What was he doing here?!

"You… what…"

"You look better than I thought you would. I rushed here, expecting to find a wreck, but you are alright now? What the hell?" he mumbled, going around me, examining me from all sides. I blinked and looked down at my body. My clothes were creased and dirty, in one hand I had the short strip of fabric that had blood stains on it and the other was placed in the trunk of the tree for balance. I was sure my face was quite a sight, too.

This was what one would call alright? Well, I felt a little better now I suppose, but – no, this was irrelevant now, what was he doing here in the first place? How did he get here so fast? It was like three-hour long ride from his home by train and he didn't own a car last time I asked.

"Why are you here? ... And you said you rushed here? I, uh, did something happen?" I croaked out my voice sounding scratchy, so I cleared my throat to dispose of a clump that formed there. He looked at me incredulously and I shuffled in place restlessly.

"Did something happen?! My phone suddenly started ringing- out of our agreed time might I add. Expecting an emergency I bolt towards it and what do I get: hysterical teenager bawling into my phone and babbling nonsense. Is it really that surprising that I instantly drove here - probably breaking several speed limits on the way - after I forced whereabouts out of you? You are always so composed and confident, hearing you in sound like that… was a shock."

"You have a car?" I asked dully, not really caring about the answer that much as I was too stunned by his words. Was, was he worried about me? But that… I inhaled and exhaled shakily, trying to stop myself from crying anew.

"Is that really so important now?!" Was the disbelieving exclamation of the adult before me. He looked so appalled by my question…

I chuckled. Chizome opened and closed his mouth, forehead crinkling in confusion.

Chuckles transformed into full-blown laughter and tears gathered in the corner of my eyes. Were they happy or sad tears? Who cares, really. I was amazed that I still had any left, though.

It was only a few minutes later when I finally stopped laughing. The only other person present was leaning against the tree and having a strange mix of amusement, relief, and annoyance on his face.

"Are you done?" he asked unnecessarily. Because I was currently rubbing my face do dispose of tear-tracks, I only made a sound of agreement.

"Excellent. Now, how do you feel?"

I stopped to rub my face with sleeves of my school uniform and scrunched my forehead in thought. How did I feel? That was hard to say… I wasn't okay by the long shot, but I was…

"Better. A lot better now," I said softly turning to face him fully, I managed to raise corners of my lips into a crooked smile as I did so. The sort-of smile was reciprocated, though he looked even less as a smile.

"Glad to hear that."

In the silence that ensued after that, I took the time to examine him, noting what changed over the year I didn't saw him (we managed to meet shortly during last holidays).

His hairs were longer now and formed even worse nest than before. He wore a bandage over his 'nose' – more like what was left of it. I felt my left eyebrow twitch in irritation at the reminder of his stupid feat, but I squashed down the feeling. He had some new scars here and there, but nothing too impressive. He was a little more muscular but overall? I didn't find any drastic changes.

Satisfied with my observations I addressed my significantly older friend.

"How long can you stay here?"

"Well, I don't have anything planned for today and most of tomorrow, though I need to be home before tomorrow's midnight," he said after thinking a bit. Then he tilted his head and added: "You want to go somewhere?"

"Depends. You have money on you?" My question accompanied by sharp smirk made him narrow his eyes in suspicion, he answered nonetheless though.

"I have a card on me. I planned to stay a day here anyway. In a hotel. I am not going to sleep in your house again, my… appearance significantly changed."

I opened my mouth to counter, but I clamped it shut soon after. While I wanted to protest, it was true that his scars and absence of his nose would be questioned and he can't really explain how it happened. Underground tournaments weren't exactly legal. And ones, where killing was allowed, were banned for sure - I had a feeling he participated in those. I've never asked, though.

Anyway, while excuses could possibly be made, the fact that he planned to sleep in a hotel for tonight played greatly into my hands.

"Good. That's perfect. I am gonna sleep in a hotel tonight with you then. Can you rent a room with two beds? Also, can you buy something for me? I will pay you back for everything once I have my own income."

He looked stumped by my request and I could see why. He probably expected that I would try to persuade him to sleep in our house. But honestly? I wanted anything but to go sleep there tonight. I needed more time before I could face my brother again.

"What? Why would I rent an extra bed for you? You can sleep in your own house! And why do I need to buy anything? I can lend you money, I guess, but you can buy those things on your own. I am not your slave, brat," he said with a frown, sending glare my way for a good measure

"Aaah. You see. I don't really wanna go home today…" I said simply. I didn't want to go into detail why but was sure I didn't need to. Chizome was an intelligent individual; he could put two and two together. From the look he sent me, he indeed got what I didn't say. His frown deepened if it was possible but in the end, he looked skywards with a groan and in that moment I knew I won. I grinned.

"I am glad you see it my way. Oh, and they wouldn't sell the things I want to me." I bent down to pick up my phone from the ground. Once I had it in my hand I searched through its contacts until I found moms. Clicking on it, I considered pros and cons of either calling or messaging her.

"They wouldn't…? What the hell are those things?" he asked with distrust. I hummed noncommittally and waved in a way that told him to wait.

Ah, fuck it.

I clicked a button for call and as I waited for mom to pick up her phone, I answered his question in a nonchalant tone.

"Isn't it obvious? I need some high-quality booze."

I deserve it after this shitty day.

xXxXxXx

I shifted slightly as I slowly emerged from dreamless sleep, groan escaping my lips when a killer headache made itself know.

God… I certainly didn't miss _this_ part of drinking.

Thinking back to the night before, it was a wonder I didn't end in a hospital with alcohol poisoning. Though I suppose I didn't really know how much I drank overall as my memories became fuzzy halfway.

I tried to open my eyes, but I instantly regretted that decision as my head started to hurt, even more, I've felt dizzy and pizza I ate a few hours ago was trying to go out the same way it came.

"Ugh..."

I crawled over to the end of the bed and looked around for something I could use. Thanking whoever put it here, I reached for a metal trash can and dumped contents of my stomach into it.

Once I was done I fell back into the mattress with a miserable sigh. I slowly raised my hand to knead my forehead, but I stopped my hand halfway in an air and scrunched my eyes to look better at the bandage encircling my palm. When I looked at the other hand, I was not surprised to find out that it got the same treatment. So I was remembering that right, he _did_ bandage them. Such unnecessary action… The sound of the door being opened made me slowly turn my head, my hands forgot for the time being.

Chizome entered our hotel room, two white bags in his left hand and closing the door with his right. I made a questioning sound, too weak to speak at the moment. He paused when he heard me.

"You up, huh?" he said, probably deliberately raising his voice to make me suffer even more. I groaned and graf orgone of the two pillows, throwing it at him. He gracefully evaded the throw and chuckled in amusement. I glared at him, plans of murder hatching in my head. Still chuckling he raked through one of the bags. Finding whatever he searched for, he placed both bags on the second bed in the room and with two things in hand he walked over to me.

When he was near enough I recognized that one of the things was a bottle of water and the second was… a packet of painkillers. Immediately all thoughts of murder vanished as I urged with a stare my savior to hurry the fuck up. He smirked and I would have been afraid that he wouldn't give them to me, but I knew even he wasn't _that_ cruel.

A few minutes later I felt the effect of tablet finally kick in and I released long content sigh when the pain in my head lessened greatly.

"I take it that you feel better." stated the adult in the room. He was quietly lying in his bed during the past minutes, giving me time to recover. Deciding that he was free to make noises now, he started to shuffle around.

I hummed and cracked one of my eyes to look what he was doing. He was searching for something in one of the bags again. A few seconds later he made a pleased exclamation when he pulled out a hamburger wrapped in napkins. A mouth-watering scent assaulted my nose and loud grumble was made by my stomach. I blushed slightly and quickly snapped my eye shut, not wanting to see his smug expression. That still didn't prevent me from hearing his snickers, though.

Something landed on my bed and turned my head towards it eyes snapping open in excitement… that was short lived, however, as my eyes landed upon a pack full of crackers.

With horror filled eyes I looked at my older friend. Was I… was I expected to eat these disgusting things?!

His shit-eating grin was enough of an answer.

xXxXxXx

I slept for most of a day after I ate little of that… _that_ … and only woke up irregularly to drink a little of water. I chatted a bit with Chizome during those times too, though it was mainly him complaining to me about what happened in a soap opera he was watching in that moment.

Around five o'clock I was waking up by Chizome saying I should take a quick shower and change into the clothes he bought earlier that day. I was pleasantly surprised by his consideration and quick thinking as going home in clothes that were: dirty, smelled of alcohol and had blood and alcohol stains on them wasn't the best idea.

After a refreshing shower and dressed in clean clothes (that were a size bigger, but beggars can't be choosers), I walked on the small balcony where Chizome was already standing, smoking a cigarette. I nudged him and stretched my hand towards him. His left eyebrow reached his hairline and he sent me an incredulous look. I continued to look at him blankly, hand still stretched before me.

He shook his head and I thought he would refuse, but he only released a grouchy grumble and threw a pack of cigarettes at me. I caught it with some difficulty (I was still feeling tired and dizzy) and pulled out one. Then I threw the rest back, in exchange a lighter was flicked at me.

I ignited the cigarette and with familiarity I probably shouldn't display I inhaled, releasing a small cloud shortly after.

"I didn't know you smoked."

"Hmm… I don't. But today I feel like doing it," I answered lightly. It was true that in my past life I sometimes had a cigarette or two a week, but I've never seen much appeal in those cancer sticks. I only smoked when the mood stuck... like today.

We continued to smoke in silence only when mere cigarette butts were left, did I turn towards Chizome, addressing him.

"Thank you," I said with sincere appreciation. He helped me a lot during these few hours.

"Don't sweat it," he retorted back leaning nonchalantly on a balcony railing, trying to act as if he totally wasn't embarrassed by my sudden gratitude. I smiled and squashed an urge to tease him; I'll let him off the hook for today.

"You know what you are going to do now?" His question made me lose my smile instantly. I frowned and turned my head away from him to look forward, at the city before us. I tried to imprint every detail of it into my head.

After few seconds I sighed and reached for my phone in my pocket. Opening it, I ignored missed calls I got over the day and went straight towards the contact tagged as 'Granny'.

"Yeah… I know."

* * *

 **~Change of POV~**

When he was a child, Akaguro Chizome never really thought of himself as being different from his peers.

He grew up as an only child in the peaceful neighborhood, surrounded by parent's love and few friends. He wasn't a troublesome child and his grades were average and just as any child his age he admired heroes and wanted to be like them when he grew up.

This desire prevailed into his teenage years and thus he was overjoyed when he was accepted into a hero high school in his neighborhood - it lesser known hero school as with his quirk he wouldn't be able to pass U.A. entrance test.

After spending there few weeks he started to realize that not everyone viewed the hero occupation the same way as him.

Money. Fame. Social standing.

Everyone around him chased after these things, forsaking true values of a hero.

He felt disgusted and dispirited. He tried to make them see their errors but nobody listened to him, instead, they only started to make fun of him. In the end, he decided to drop out of school and was about to give up completely. Then All Might appeared out of nowhere, laughing in the face of danger and he gained back his once lost determination.

He would current society, even if he had to print posters, do street oratory speeches and persuade others, one person at the time.

However, he soon learned that people didn't want to change. They didn't want to listen to something that was soiling a propaganda they were used to. His friends were starting to avoid him and while his parents tried to be supportive, they really didn't fully understood what he tried to accomplish.

But he preserved – he was a seventeen-year old bull-headed teenager, he wouldn't be deterred by something like this.

But then things started to worsen - taunting remarks turning into physical violence. With his quirk, it was hard to bounce them off, but he managed. In one of these instances, he met rude brat that took pleasure in kicking others in a groin on the first day they met.

She was a peculiar little thing, sometimes too mature and knowledgeable for her age – abnormally so – but other she was childish, arrogant and ridiculously stupid. At the start, he considered her only as someone who he could tease without feeling guilt, but as he spent more time with her and they actually started to talk, he started to get really fond of her. She grew on him like a mushroom and in the end, he stopped to resist and started to call her a friend in his mind (never loud though).

Sure, some could view a friendship between eighteen years old teenager and four years old a little weird, but he couldn't care less. He never really saw her as a child she physically was anyway. She just felt... off. It was like she was older than her appearance indicated, maybe even older than him. This… should be considered strange, he supposed.

Her miraculous knowledge of English was suspicious, too as he gathered over the years that their father wasn't around. But… he never dug for explanations, if she wanted she would tell him and as she never did, he allowed her to keep her secret. He accumulated his fair share of secrets over the years anyway. And in the first place, in their world, there were a lot of unexplained things that nobody dared to question.

Anyway while she told him he was being stupid and naive for thinking that he would change anything this way, she would sometimes help him give posters to other people (taking advantage of her cute child appearance - the kid could be quite manipulative if she wanted) or she would go buy him refreshments when the day was especially hot. Sometimes, she even offered some insight on persuading other people.

It felt kind of nice to have someone to discuss things with, even if that someone only answered with sarcastic remarks. And of course making fun of her was a great way to relieve stress. He felt like he could keep going like this, like his preaching on the streets wasn't pointless.

But of course, all good things had to end and the day when his world was turned sideways came. That day started so innocently too - mom wanted to go on one of her shopping sprees, Dad didn't have a choice and had to go with her as her personal bag carrier. Chizome didn't think much of it until he saw what happened on television.

He instantly rushed there and well... he doesn't remember much of that day. Or even the next when he had to identify their bodies...

He was working on autopilot crushed by disbelief, grief and bathed in denial.

He was sort of out of it the weeks preceding the funeral (he didn't need to concern himself with it as distant relatives promised to take care of it). When the day of the funeral came and other's hollow words of sympathy made him even more distant.

After everyone departed and he was left standing alone before the tomb with two familiar names etched on it, everything suddenly too real and overwhelming…. something finally broke in him and the first tears fell.

He took another few weeks to recover. He didn't speak with anyone during that time and he didn't go out, surviving only on instant noodles and crackers.

He was thinking a lot during that time, too. He finally saw that he needed to do more drastic things to change the society. Hate and anger that hatched in him supported fully his new decision to dispose of all those individuals that stained the reputation of heroes; to kill all those fakers.

He didn't know what made him confess his new plan to his bratty little friend – it was very stupid to share something like that when he thought about that now, years later. She could have reacted in a lot of ways, the most likely being that she would run away screaming and sever all ties with him or even going right to the nearest police station. She didn't do any of that, instead, she was the most serious than he ever saw her and she calmly helped him see better through the haze of anger and hate that settled over his mind.

When he went home the next day, one plush toy heavier (he still to this day can't understand why he stole it… it was just some weird impulse), it was with a clearer mind and lifted spirits.

His plan wasn't thrown out, he just needed to revise it a little, maybe do better planning. It wasn't a bad idea; after all, if one wanted to change anything, especially for the better, one had to stain his hands and sacrifice something- usually humanity. He realized it now.

Over the next seven years, he meticulously trained his body and quirk and did research about various things – cultivating both his body and mind. He also joined underground tournaments to try his abilities in real fight – also to gain money. He registered there under the nickname of a Stain – he decided on it because one kanji in his name meant 'stain' and he also found it very fitting as he planned to stain his hands for his cause.

The plus was that by fighting in those tournaments, he made… well certainly not friends, but he could call them acquaintances. He realized that he was really cut off from the outside world after a little bit of 'socializing'.

The only hitch that happened during those years was him losing his nose. Not that he minded much, it hurt like a bitch, sure, but overall he couldn't care less. The lecture he got from Kou though… ugh, it was unbearable.

He really should have expected something to happen after those few years of 'sort of peace'. But he didn't, therefore he was completely unprepared when his only friend suddenly called him. He didn't understand most of the call, but he knew that it has something with her brother and that she was upset and crying. So, of course, like a good friend he was, he sits into his new car (bought of the money from tournaments) and drove there immediately. Only to come when she already calmed down.

Damn that distance.

The following conversation and request confused him, but if it would make her feel better, then he wasn't one to disagree – like any man he wasn't good with upset girls. It was a relief she was self-sufficient, all it took were few bottles of alcohol.

He probably shouldn't allow the underage kid to drink, but hey, he wasn't one to talk. Planning to become a villain and joining illegal tournaments… he was such a bad influence when he thought about it now.

Though drinking was one thing, smoking other. She looked like she had experience, too.

God, she was such troublesome, weird and suspicious brat.

He observed idly the smoking teenager from the corner of his eyes. She grew a lot over the last year, the puberty hitting her like a truck. She was taller, reaching his chest now; therefore he would say her height was around 160 cm. He quickly crossed over her no-longer flat figure, he never thought of her that way and 'checking' her out would just be gross. Her long hairs were done into a simple braid that ended in the half of her back. He never understood why she made such a big fuss about braiding them until he once saw her with her hair free - she looked like a poodle. Her slightly tanned face was full of freckles as ever and her green eyes were narrowed in thought.

It was a good thing that she was so deep in thought because she could be scarily observant when she wanted to. She would have instantly noticed that he was looking at her and would then probably call him a pervert with a smug smile. The thought made him shook his head in irritation and turn away, giving his full attention to a cigarette again.

She was a troublesome, weird and suspicious brat, but she was also the closest he had to family now (his distant relatives didn't count) so he wouldn't pry and would just be glad she felt better now.

* * *

I AM SO SORRY... not.

It had to happen! It wasn't just random decision to made them have this 'confrontation'. I was actually planning to write this for half a year already. Because say what you want, if my twin had quirk and I didn't, it would made a little... well I would be sad. Also I don't know if it was seen from my writing, but Kou is really, really pushy and obsessive with protecting Izuku. I mean, Theo died in her arms so she is very paranoid and well... Izuku doesn't like this, because while she is supporting his dream, she isn't exactly helping him gain his confidence be constantly helping him with everything. Also, I had other reason for doing this... you will see in next chapter, though I foreshadowed it in this.

Also Kou drinking/smoking wouldn't be a regular thing, this time was special, because she was feeling very low and when Chizome appeared he gave her resources to do what she did. Keep in mind that while she is minor psychically, mentally she is over forty.

Also what do you think about Chizome's POV?

 _Reviews:_

 _xenocanaan \- I am curious what you will say to this chapter then. XD_

 _CallmeCrazylol \- Lol. That's true. I totally didn't realize this. XD Love your name, btw._

 _Chin x2 \- Heeeere~_

 _iroxanamiranda \- Wow! Thank you so much for writing this! It made me so happy! I hope you will like this chapter, too, then. No, she didn't meet Mineta, it was actually Kirishima. I am sure nobody recognize him as he has different hair when he is young._

 _OTrizy \- Here comes your ego booster my little bear friend! Lol yeah, plushies needs to be protected, be careful not to hit hard, okay? Not wanna lose my beta bc she hit a wall too hard, lol. Anyway, don't worry! I don't need second beta when I have you! You are doing a fantastic job~_

 _Nahoki-san \- Lol! This made me laugh so much. Also, I totally like your idea! I am gonna steal it and write it - I make sure to mention you, though. XD However it would need to be changed a little, because Kou isn't one to have crushes and all, she will instead yell something like -'Marry me!' - Izuku will still look done, though. XD_

 _Night-Blooming Cereus \- Ah, sorry, no Todoroki. While I love him, he doesn't fit into my story. Also, yeah, I hated Katsuki at the start of manga, too. He was the reason I started to write this, too. Lol._

 _grandmaa \- Awww, thank you! I love OCs, too!_

 _Guest Jul 24 \- Yup! I love when OCs meets a lot of different characters before they even appear in a anime. It makes me wonder who will appear next._

 _Scarlet3Wolf12 \- ? I don't know what you wrote as nothing was posted._

 _Dodo \- I am sorry, but Todoroki will not appear early. I don't want for Kou to know too much of canon characters. They are 12, they aren't so young that they will forget each other. Still nice idea, though. _


	12. When in doubt

Well... this was supposed to be written earlier, but I was too lazy. I am sorry.

Anyyyway this chapter is filler-ish and shorter than the last one, though I wrote omake at the end! Don't take that part too seriously. XD

 **Beta: OTrizy** (blame her for that silly omake XD)

 _Quote: "When in doubt, choose change."– Lily Leung_

* * *

"Nee-chan, are you sure you don't want to think about this more?"

I stopped to observe people handling my possessions and turned around to face my brother, examining his face carefully. He looked dejected and was rubbing his hands nervously, looking anywhere but at me. Even though we already went over this, he still felt bad for being a reason for all of this. I sighed and massaged my temples, squashing any doubts that surfaced when I looked at his sad face. I was the older one, I had to stay strong.

"You-You don't have to do this, you know? I… I didn't really mean what I said. I was just being oversensitive and stupid, you can continue to act like you-"

"Izuku."

He clamped his mouth shut at my interruption and looked at me with wide eyes, begging me with them to reconsider my decision. I clenched my teeth, resisting an urge to massage my temples again. Stay strong.

"We both know that what you said the other day was your true feelings. Don't ever degrade what you feel. You weren't over-sensitive or stupid. And… I am glad that you told me what you felt. If you are hurting I wasn't you to tell me. You don't have to bottle everything. We are twins."

"B-but…" I quickly moved towards him when he started to tear up, enveloping him with my arms. He reciprocated the hug eagerly, holding me tightly. Tactfully ignoring my brother's trembling body and silent sniffles, I gazed quietly at the house before me.

I knew grandparent's house like the back of my hand after our numerous visits over the years, but now that I was about to live there for a few years, it felt strange to look at it now.

"I've never wanted you to move away"

"I know."

"You don't have to leave. I am sure we can work things out even if you stay."

"Maybe, but I want this."

"It would be lonely to sleep in a room alone."

"Yeah, it will suck, but we will get used to it."

"Is there really no way for me to persuade you?"

"Nope! I am pretty set on this."

"Yeah. And you are as stubborn as a mule."

"Hey!"

I wanted to frown. I really wanted, but when my brother stepped away from me, rubbing his eyes and soft chuckles escaping him, I couldn't really bring myself to do it. Instead, I placed my hand on his dark green curls and roughly tousled them. A surprised yelp escaped his lips and he tried to lightly slap away my hand. I grinned evilly and was about to launch an attack at his hair fully, but loud meow stopped me.

We both paused and looked towards the sound, our eyes landing on Miss Cat. Oh, yeah. That fur-ball was moving away with me and probably wanted to be let out of her crate already. I rolled my eyes at her impatience and reached into my pocket, pulling out a packet of cat treats. Taking a handful, I showed them towards her.

That should occupy her for a bit.

Once done with that I turned to my twin who was busy with patting his hair down and trying to arrange them into some sort of proper order. I snorted quietly. As if it wasn't messy all the time.

I coughed loudly to catch his attention.

"Anyway… It's only for three years, Izuku, and we will see each other during holidays. Also don' think that just because I am few-hours-long ride away that I will stop wanting to know where are you and what are you doing." I smirked at his groan," I will text and call you daily. We can use video-chat sometime, too. Think of it as if I was in a boarding school or something," I finished firmly, a serious expression on my face. He nodded solemnly.

"Yeah… but it will be different."

I sent him a crooked smile and was about to answer when a loud and obnoxious meowing was heard again. We both looked at each other with exasperated expressions.

I looked towards people who were paid to help us move. They were already finished from the looks of it and mom was talking with them and signing some documents at the moment.

Well… time to organize my things now.

xXxXxXx

I didn't sleep that night.

It was the first time I wasn't under the same roof as my brother during the night (that one time in the hotel room didn't count as I was mostly out of it). I certainly felt like something was amiss. I don't know if that was because of some mysterious link between twins or if it was just me and my stupid over-protectiveness. In any case, it doesn't even matter why I felt so jittery because, in the end, it all came down to one thing – I missed my brother.

It wasn't even full day and I was already such a wreck. I wanted to laugh at my pathetic self.

My wild mind formed several scenarios of what could have already happened to my brother during those hours. It was stupid but I was just so uneasy when I couldn't feel his presence near me… I constantly felt the urge to look down, to see him sleeping in bed, but if I did that I would only see a floor there as I slept in a guest room and the bed wasn't our bunk bed.

But of course, that changed nothing for my irrational mind.

I wanted to call him, to hear his voice and calm myself down that way, but I stopped myself before I did that. I couldn't bother him and woke him up from his sleep just because I was upset. Also, we decided that we only will call each other once a day – after dinner.

I just needed to endure these few first days. I can think of it as if I were on a withdrawal treatment. Huh, does it mean Izuku was my drug?

…

Well, I guess it was true. Heh.

Anyway, because of my mind is working in an overdrive, I ended up tossing around all night and didn't get any sleep.

I got up from bed around five and decided to do my usual morning routine – I ran around ten kilometers and then did stretches and various exercises - they mainly helped my flexibility; I decided to give up on increasing my strength as my current body needed too much damn time to gain even a little of muscles. Sure, it would look cool if I knocked out someone in one punch but it felt more satisfying when I did it in more, so I suppose it wasn't such a loss.

And anyway, if I ever needed to lift or move away from something heavy I always could use my quirk – I could attract objects to myself that had about the same weight (or less). So around 55 kilograms? -not really sure, I haven't weighed myself in ages.

At any rate, I'd say things over sixty were out of my attraction reach so if I used my quirk on them, I only end up getting pulled to them. Therefore I couldn't attract cars to me… pity, it could have looked cool. Though I suppose attracting towards them sure would look cool, too… I just have to learn how to better land.

… I sidetracked there a little.

Anyway, that routine helped to clear my head a little, along with hot shower I took when I got home around seven.

Breakfast was prepared already when I came down and as grandma hated when someone talked to her during early hours (she hated mornings with passion–grandpa was the one who usually prepared breakfasts), it was a quiet affair.

The sullen atmosphere reminded me that I wasn't at home and my mood worsened again.

Thus I ate everything as fast as I could without it being called 'unsightly' – grandma lectures would be horrible if I didn't eat like a proper lady, especially now that she was already in a foul mood.

After I finished, I asked if I was needed for something today. I wasn't, therefore I told them I will go out and come back for dinner. The responses for that was an affirmative grunt from grandma and "Be safe" from grandpa.

Before leaving I took my shoulder bag from my room along with mobile, keys and wallet.

I managed to save up quite a lot of pocket money over the years as I never bought anything except presents for birthdays and Christmas and even then I got extra money from mom for them. Although sometimes I tended to treat myself to some sweets… ah, anyway with the money I accumulated, I had more than enough to buy myself lunch for today and if the need arose, for next few weeks too.

It wasn't like I didn't want to have lunch with my grandparents, but… yeah, I really didn't. It just reminded me of a fact that my brother and mom wasn't there. Sure, grandpa and granny were good company (except mornings) but I wasn't used to seeing those empty seats around the table.

I patted Miss Cat on the head on my way out of my room. She was lying on my bed and once I touched her she sent me THE _look_ but otherwise didn't react.

As I put my shoes on I thought about what I should do today. I could try to look for a part-time job, but I wasn't too hopeful that somebody would hire a twelve years old girl. I could try to apply for newspaper delivery but that doesn't produce a lot of money.

I wanted to buy motorbike when I reach fifteen and also pay myself driving lessons (even if I didn't need them). I wouldn't be able to accumulate enough money for that if I only delivered newspapers. Though I suppose that finding a part-time job that would give me enough money in three years would be near impossible.

Hmmm… whatever, I can think of that later.

At any rate, I could try to look for a job, but I didn't feel like talking with some stranger right now. Even if I didn't feel irritated because I was tired, being questioned by my would-be-employer would make me snappy even if I was in my best mood. And god forbid if granny found out that I snapped at someone during job interview… nope, not want to even imagine that.

Therefore as that idea was shot down instantly, instead I decided to find myself some quiet, comfortable place where I could rest and maybe catch few hours of sleep – Chizome was out of town at the moment and would come back next month, so his house was out of the question.

However, whenever I went, there was always something that prevented me from my beauty sleep.

In a park, when I decided to climb a tree and sleep on branches, it was too uncomfortable and additionally wind was extra strong that day. I didn't want to fall down, thus I decided to try ground or benches. However, people either walked up to me to ask if I was okay or they started to loudly talk about me, calling me attention-seeking brat and other rude things.

Excuse me?!

I managed to control myself thus I didn't beat up anyone that day but I sure as hell wasn't staying there.

Next, I went to various playgrounds, but everywhere there were noisy brats so I backpedaled away the next second.

I tried nearest abandoned building, but sadly it was surrounded by houses that each had at least one dog… They probably felt the need to protect the abandoned house or whatever and therefore I wasn't able to fall asleep because of their loud barks.

Other places were out of the question as there were too many people… especially on beaches… It was still too cold for swimming, so what the fuck are you doing there?!

Anyway… thus I arrived home, even more, irked and sleepy than before.

I only spoke bare minimum during dinner and excused myself soon after. Both grandpa and granny didn't try to stop me, probably feeling that leaving me alone for now was the best course of action.

I was grateful for their understanding… even though I didn't fully explain why I wanted to live here for my junior high school years, they took one look at both mine and my brother's faces and allowed me to stay here. Mom was surprised at first but after initial questioning, she didn't probe for answers… I really had such a wonderful family.

Anyhow once I was in my room I had a short call with my brother in which I found out that my brother couldn't fall asleep, too, but in the end, he managed to fall asleep around three o'clock. Lucky kid.

It made me feel a little better that I wasn't the only one who was affected by the distance between us… and then I instantly felt bad for such a thought.

I shortly talked with mom, too, after which I ended the call and did my nightly routine.

Once done I moved Miss Cat a little so I had some space in my bed. I was rewarded by an indignant meow after which she jumped down from my bed and then out through opened window. I shrugged and collapsed onto my bed, feeling assured that I would fall asleep the moment my head touches a pillow.

However, the reality was very different… even though I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep… I couldn't. I felt restless and uncomfortable no matter the position. And of course, I once again had thoughts full of what ifs.

I was unamused.

Thus I once again didn't get a wink of sleep... Okay, that was a lie, because I was so tired my brain forcefully shut down around five o'clock… Only to be awakened at eight o'clock by my overactive grandpa.

Damn.

Needless to say, I wasn't the happy camper.

After breakfast, knowing that going outside for sleeping was useless, I tried to go to my room… only to be stopped by granny, who told me that if I was free she still had much to teach me.

She declared that I was a lost cause in etiquette and therefore she decided to instead make a proper housewife out of me… meaning I now had to learn how to cook, which cleaning product to use on what, etc.

What the hell... I was glad I distinguished salt and sugar and like, couldn't you use one product on everything?

I decided there and here that I would rather spend all my time outside trying to find a spot to sleep than in the house with granny hell-bent to make a housewife out of me.

xXxXxXx

I sighed tiredly as I looked through the window of the bus with an impassive face. Trying not to fall asleep I tried to focus on the various things on the streets.

"Um… excuse me…" I sent a glare at the person standing in an aisle that was obviously trying to ask if she could sit next to me. The girl made a high-pitched 'Eeep' and instantly moved away from me and towards the back of the bus.

 _'Good riddance…'_ I thought without remorse. I didn't have any energy to feel bad for my behavior as my sleep-deprived brain only could do basic functions at the moment.

The week passed and my sleeping problems still prevailed. Sure, I now always manage to catch around three hours of sleep a night but still, that's too little! As if to confirm that, I now had pretty big rings under my eyes.

My grandparents noticed them, of course, and I was allowed to go back to sleep after breakfast but once I got into bed, my brain decided that I still had too much to think about… so yeah, I just decided to do whatever during the day and hope that I will fall asleep at night.

Funnily enough, I learned today that bus full of excited kids was the best place for falling asleep… and at the same time the one where I can't sleep no matter what, as my next stop was only half hour away and if I miss it I would be late for school.

Haa… this sucked.

Anyway, as I indicated before, today was my first day of school… Junior high school already, huh? From what I learned over the years, this Junior High was the last compulsory education in Japan. Thus after I finish this school I could find a job and not study anymore.

It was an appealing thought and if I could I would do just that, but when I once mentioned it to granny… well, let's say I don't have any courage left to do something like that.

That posed a question then… if I will continue my education… what kind of high school should I choose? I only ever planned to enter U.A. or even other hero high schools because of Izuku. And now after the 'incident'… I had a feeling that Izuku would be upset if I went there only because I followed him. However…if not for Izuku, I really had no motivation to go there.

In the first place, hero occupation wasn't for me. I wasn't one to immediately pause whatever I was doing to save some random person. True, I wasn't totally heartless and I may try to save someone if the chance comes up, but I wouldn't go to the big length for a stranger. My family and friends were always in the first place for me. If push comes to the shove, I wouldn't hesitate to kill someone if it would mean they survive… such dark thoughts, I don't think someone like me could qualify as a hero material.

Haa… either way, if I didn't follow Izuku... I really didn't have any plans for the future. I could maybe, maybe try to be mechanic like I planned in the past… but only being something like that no longer appeals to me… I want to be more.

My thoughts were instantly pushed aside when suddenly someone pushed himself/herself into a seat beside me. I snapped my head to the side, my glare murderous. However, it didn't have any effect on that person and she sent me a bright smile in return.

"I am sorry that I barged myself here so suddenly. But this was the only free seat here and I really didn't want to stand," she explained cheerfully. My glower deepened and my left eye started to twitch after hearing such a happy tone. How could someone be so chipper in the mornings? On the way to school too!

I examined the girl in front of me more closely. She was wearing the same uniform as me; therefore she had to attend/would attend the same school. She had pink-tinted skin and pink short hair with yellow horns in them. Her eyes were black with yellow irises. I unconsciously tilted my head. She looked familiar. Not enough for me to know her name, however.

"Whatever," I snapped in the end and turned my head back to look outside. I was too tired to push her out of her seat or do something drastic. As long as she stays quiet-

"Great! So, what is your name? My name is Mina, by the way~. Ashido Mina." Looks like the girl won't be quiet, huh… My irritation grew. I don't care about your name Ms. Annoying. I want to be left alone; wouldn't anyone gather that from my scowl and angry glare?

Keeping a careful hold on my annoyance, I decided to just ignore her. She will stop once she learns I had no intention to answer to her questions.

"Hey~ Hey~ don't ignore meee~. What's your name? I think I saw you few times around here. Where do you live? I know names of nearly all people my age who live here, but I don't know yours. Your uniform is same as mine. Are you first-year too? Maybe we will be placed into same class! Most of my friends went to different schools so it will be really great if we were in the same class. Ah! What about you? Do you know other people here? If not I can introduce you to some people. And…"

My left eye started to twitch as irritation grew in me. .fuck. Is she retarded or what? Couldn't she get the point that I don't want to talk?! I looked at her from the corner of my eyes.

When she saw me looking, her smile widened and she looked genuinely happy that she finally caught my attention. I blinked and my glare softened at the sight of a happy teenager before me. I sighed internally. I was once again reminded of a fact that I became soft over the years.

"Midoriya Kou…" I mumbled in the end.

"Nice to meet you! You can call me Mina-chan or Mina, I don't really care. Can I call you Kou-chan?" Another question was fired at me instantly. God, this girl was too chirpy for old little anti-social me. I took my time answering but in the end, I answered quickly when I saw that she took a deep breath. I was sure that if I didn't do that, she would bombard me with her words again.

"…I prefer Kou…" Honorifics were a pain in the ass.

"Great! Nee~ Nee~ Let's be good friends from now on, Kou!"

"…Sure." For my sanity, it would be better to just go with the flow for now on. We should arrive any time now. I would probably survive the chatterbox next to me for a few minutes. And then she would forget about me once we get outside of the bus.

XxxXxXx

I was wrong.

Once we reached our stop, my hand was snatched and held in a surprisingly strong hold and then I was pulled out of the bus before most of the people even had a chance to stand. Once outside she started to push through a crowd of gathered people, my hand still in her grip and thus I had to stumble after her.

This… was familiar.

Maybe because of that familiarity I let myself get pulled without protest. Though, that didn't prevent me from glaring at everyone around me. Seriously, whose was this clever idea to block the only entrance to school?!

I clenched my teeth and looked ahead at the girl with bubblegum hair, who continued to merrily talk to me about this and that, totally not bothered how close we were to others because we pushed through such tight crowd.

Finally, we were outside of it and right in front of us was a big board with names and classes on it. I searched through the names until I came upon mine. Class 1, huh?

"There it is! I am class 4! What about you, Kou?" the girl next to me suddenly exclaimed. I didn't release a breath of relief. Nope. Nooot at all.

"One," I answered quickly with maybe a little more delight than I should.

"Awww! Damn! I wanted us to be in the same class. I know two or three people in my class but only by name…"

I turned to look at her when I hear a genuine disappointment in her voice…Now I felt a little bit guilty, seeing how down she was.

But… We knew each other only for, what, twenty minutes? Why is she sad that she wouldn't be in class with someone like me? I scrunched my forehead, totally not understanding the enigma of a girl before me.

"I know! Why don't we always meet during lunch break? I can introduce you to others, too!" She exclaimed happily and turned to me, holding both of my hands in hers. Her whole face was brightened again and while I wanted nothing more than to refuse and never talk with her again… I didn't have the heart to make her sad again. Damn. I was really too soft, this calls for re-education.

"Uuuh. Yeah. Sure…?" I said in an uncertain voice and a face that said I already accepted my fate.

I groaned in misery inside when her face brightened even more and she started to pull me again, this time in the direction of our classrooms. Half-listening to what she was saying, I really did wonder if I signed off my death warrant.

 _'Well… '_ I gazed at her back blankly, a small smirk-like smile slowly appearing on my face.

 _'At least I wouldn't be bored…Don't know if that's a good thing though…'_

xXxXxXx

After I was discharged by the chirpy girl (with words "See you later") in front of the doors that had label 'Class 1', I took a long, deep breath and entered the room.

What greeted me was class already half-filled by teenagers. I felt my left eye twitch as annoyance roused in me again. Great. Another three years with loud snotty brats, however, this time I will be without my sweet little brother. Just great.

I looked around the class and when I noticed that the last desk in the middle row was empty, I occupied it instantly.

Good, I at least I had a really good seat this time. Though the one near a window would be better… well, I will try to seize it next year.

I planted my hands on the desk and on them I placed my head, clearly stating everyone that I didn't want to be approached.

Strangely I didn't feel as sleepy as I did minutes ago. I wonder if some of that 'new school' excitement climbed over to me from Mina… Nah, I was just curious about my new homeroom teacher, yeah, that's more like it.

Thinking about homeroom teacher made me think back towards my last one… I smirked. Well, that woman certainly won't be teaching anyone anytime soon.

What did I do? Well, nothing much… but it was sweet, very sweet revenge, indeed. But… more on that later as from the loud sounds around me it looks like the classroom was slowly but surely filling up. Nobody approached me, probably thinking I was asleep. Very good.

Then a bell rang, signalizing the start of our homeroom class and everyone rushed towards their seats. I decided that it was safe to 'wake up' now and thus I straightened and stretched myself. As I was stretching I involuntarily release a big yawn. Looks like my sleepiness was coming back.

"Eeeehh!" A sudden exclamation of surprise somewhere to my left made me snap my mouth with a loud snap. I turned around to look what was the fuss about. My sleepy green eyes clashed with surprised red and I blinked few times until I realized that the surprise was directed at me.

Um? What is it? Did I accidentally make something fly again? I looked around me. Nope. Nothing flying to me.

And nobody was looking at me, too. Instead, everyone looked at the boy with alarmed and curious expressions. I returned my gaze towards the boy. He was whispering with his two friends and now all three of them were shooting glances my way.

I felt annoyance stir in me again at the sight. What the hell. I did nothing and they already gossiped about me? If you have something to say, say that to my face, punk!

I narrowed my eyes and scrutinized the boy more thoroughly. Red eyes, straight black hair that reached the middle of his neck, scar above his right eye, really sharp teeth. I tilted my head as I searched through my memories. He looked familiar… Eh? Maybe… is that possible?! Please no… I groaned quietly and started to massage my temples.

Just my luck to have a boy I've never wanted to meet again in my class…

Yes. I was very sure of that now. The boy before me was that little brat I meet a few years back. The one that really should have watched TV less… I wonder if he listened to me…

Judging by the eager looks he was sending my way, probably not.

Haa… this was just getting better and better.

In that moment the door of our class opened loudly and someone rushed inside quickly, closing the door shut loudly behind him. Then that person turned towards us and between loud huffs exclaimed: " I am really sorry for being late!"

With everyone still reeling back from such an entrance, nobody spoke a word as the man continued to walk through the front of the classroom, until he stopped before teacher's desk, placing his brown briefcase on it. Then he started to pull his things out, placing them on the desk.

Whispers started to travel through the rows.

Was this… was this man supposed to be our homeroom teacher?

I started to examine him with an incredulous expression. Pale blue eyes nearly completely hidden behind black glasses, curly white hair that looked so fluffy that even I with my adult mind, had problems to control an urge to pet them. He was short, probably only a little taller than me (I was 161cm tall) and his clothes were sloppily dressed as if he didn't have time to properly dress. Judging from how he rushed into the classroom… yeah… he probably overslept or something.

My in credulousness increased. This… this cute, harmless looking specimen of the male gender that looked like he was in his mid-twenties, was supposed to teach a class half-filled with female teenagers whose hormones were starting to kick in? Oh, my…

Seeing how already most girls (and even some boys) were blushing as they whispered to each other… I groaned again. This time more loudly as I knew nobody would hear it anyway because of the buzz that enveloped the whole classroom.

A loud cough caught our attention and all of us looked towards the teacher that was now standing next to a board, name 'Hitsuji Haruto' written on it. My left eye twitched again. I think this will become a habit at this rate.

Sheep, indeed.

"I am sorry again! I assure you that this will not happen again… It just so happened that my clock stopped working during the night. I will need to buy a new one," he mumbled at the end, looking flustered at his blunder. Immediately, most of the girls raised their hands into the air, yelling that they will help him choose his new clock.

' _Does he even know how to teach?'_ I massaged my temples and started to count from one to ten in my head slowly.

I already felt that a big headache was incoming… and the first class didn't even end…

xXxXxXx

After the end of our first class I shot out of my seat like a rocket and without even knowing where I went, I entered the first female toilets I came across. Once I was securely seated on a toilet seat, I instantly texted my brother. The content of the text was a something like 'I want to go home' and 'this school is crazy'.

Then after sending it, I tilted my head back, looking up and into the corner of a ceiling where the little spider was nestled in his web. I continued to observe him, my fried brain slowly trying to gather my last strands of sanity.

Are all schools always so crazy and I've never noticed before because I ignored everything all the time or was this school just an exception? When I thought about it, this was the first time I was at school without taking care of someone (be it Theo or Izuku)…

Damn. I think I need to re-think my decision to stay away for a whole junior-high… and…

I think the class was about to start. Looking down on my mobile in my hands, I had only one minute left until the start of my next class. I instantly ran outside.

Luckily I wasn't that far away and I slipped into my seat just as the bell rung.

Next class was supposed to be Physics and was taught by no other but Hitsuji-sensei. Great. This will be another period full of squealing, blabbering and filled with questions that were completely out of place.

Hitsuji-sensei entered, with him five boys that looked to be seniors and in their arms, they had stacks of books.

 _*Thud*_

Everyone jumped at the loud sound that books made when they were disposed of in the front of the room. Sensei thanked those boys and they quickly hurried away. I blinked at their strange behavior. What in the hell made them-

"Now, please everyone take one of these books and sign it. I expect you to take good care of them as you will return them at the end of the year," said Hitsuji-sensei in a light tone, small smile on his face. I tilted my head, there was something different about him, but I can't place it…

One after another, we all took one book and once everyone had their own copy, our teacher placed himself next to the board and with a smile that was downright terrifying, he told us to open our books to page twelve.

Various diagrams and symbols greeted us and collective gulps of fear resonated through the otherwise silent room.

"Well then… let's start, shall we?"

xXxXxXx

Okay… Okay… I take it back. He absolutely wasn't harmless and he certainly knew how to teach.

However what I will not take back is my first impression of this school – everyone here was crazy.

I was once again hidden in my favorite toilet boot, staring at my spider friend who didn't move an inch after the last time I saw him. I decided to name him Mister Spider (yeah, yeah, my naming sense is as fabulous as always).

Izuku still didn't reply. He probably had his mobile switched off until lunch break (after this break we will go home today – it was the first day after all). So as I had nothing better to do and I still had few minutes until the start of next period – which will be English, fortunately – I decided, with a great reluctance might I add, think back to the previous period.

Hitsuji-sensei… how to say it… turned into a fucking monster when he started to teach his subject. I mean, it was like he turned on some switch, he became a completely different person. No wonder those seniors ran away, I wanted to take after them, too…

Okay, that wasn't completely true, while Sensei was indeed a very fearsome individual and the curriculum he taught was even more frightening… surprisingly, I sort of was capable to understand most of what was in the book before me.

Maybe it was because our teacher had such a presence that didn't allow you to not pay attention to him or maybe because what he taught actually sounded useful. I mean most what I learned in other subjects were theories that couldn't be used in real life, so of course, I wasn't too keen to learn such subjects. I am a practical person after all…

Ah whatever, maybe I was just biased because it was something I was genuinely interested in. I mean engineering and physics go hand in hand and if I wanted to become a mechanic or something similar in the future, I needed to be good in both.

Anyway-

The bell rang.

"SHIT!"

I kicked the door open and quickly rushed into my classroom. I can't have problems with teachers on my first day at this school - granny would kill me if I have.

XxxXxXx

And well… this was how I spent my first day in junior high, pretty explosive if I say so myself –even without Katsuki and his quirk.

I managed to hide in a toilet booth during all our breaks and during lunch break, I was snuggled away by Mina – I was exhausted after this weird day so I didn't protest. We actually didn't have lunch as she only 'introduced' me her two female friends… more like I glowered at them (my mood was pretty bad after this day) and snapped my name out and both of them hid behind Mina's back and yelped their names at me. Pretty good first impression, I think.

Anyway, only I and Mina went home by bus that day, both of her friends were picked up by their respective parents.

Mina's stop was around ten minutes before mine thus I had a quiet ride after she stepped out. Of course, I had to promise I will 'save' her a seat tomorrow too – I was too tired to refuse.

At any rate, I stepped out of the bus on my stop and shuffled slowly towards my temporary home. Once there I mumbled greetings to granny (grandpa was still working) and to her question of "How was school?" I only replied something nonsensical and without further ado I crawled into my room, jumping into my bed without even changing (and in the process nearly squashing Miss Cat, who was fortunately clever enough to jump away before something like that could happen).

Funnily enough, after this horrendous day, I was finally able to sleep peacefully until the next morning.

* * *

 **~Omake: From the perspective of Mister Spider~**

Spider number 27 was born on a particularly rainy day, in a small hole made in a wall. He and his twenty-six siblings instantly scattered into all directions, never to see each other again. It may sound depressing to some, but that was a sad part of living as a spider.

In his short life, this tiny spider lived through truly horrifying and horrible things. His kin was slaughtered and crippled right before his eyes; he himself nearly didn't survive his numerous encounters with the species named 'Mankind'. He had to run for his life and hid in the most disgusting places.

And don't let him get started on his nutrition…

But truly… this spider could be considered quite lucky because he managed to survive through all these hardships unscathed and he even managed to grow quite a lot.

After changing his places of dwelling multiple times, in the end, he decided to fully settle down in a place called 'Restroom'.

There were other of his kind here, of course, but they were foolish and conceited and soon they were discovered and murdered. He, himself, with his wise mind and quick thinking managed to preserve and his dwelling only continued to grow. Soon others decided to escape before they meet their end here and he was the only one courageous enough to stay.

Thus started a new era for this place called Restroom… and a new legend of Spider 27 was born, that said-

The door opened with a loud thud and this wise spider decided to hide in his secure lair as one of the Mankind entered his Restroom.

He was startled when the one who entered decided to enter HIS booth but stayed silent and observed keenly actions of a female specimen.

He grew even more alarmed when he noticed that the female's attention was placed upon him.

Chill traveled through his whole being. Did this specimen… did she plan to challenge him and take away his rightful position as the leader of this sacred place called Restroom?!

He invested so much of his time into this place! So many nights spent doing intricate webs… was he supposed to just give up on that and run with his whole body bent down?!

No! He couldn't shame a legend of Spider 27! If the choice was between fleeing away, humiliated or dying as a proud warrior… there was nothing that could change his decision to stay!

Thus he positioned himself in his web, facing his foe boldly. Reacting to his move, the female abruptly stood up and he prepared himself for the first attack that… never came.

His enemy went away without doing anything.

…

The wise spider stared in bafflement at the closed doors. His eight eyes blinked in unison at such a confusing move.

Was this some new tactic…? This spider was sure she was trying to catch him unprepared!

 _'Ha! I am onto you! I won't be fooled so easily!'_

Thus he settled comfortably in his lair, waiting for the female to appear again.

She did… then she left once again, this time more fiercely than before, probably angry that her deceit didn't work.

 _'Muhahahaha! Your plan backfired! What are you going to do now?! Huh? Huuuh?'_

She came back two more times and she looked more and more desperate as time went. This sage-like spider couldn't help but feel a vindictive pleasure grew inside him.

Then she stopped appearing, but the spider was shrewd enough to know that this didn't end. No, this was only beginning. She would appear again, however, he would never give her the satisfaction of catching him vulnerable!

This, he vowed on his honor as a spider number 27!

* * *

The end~

I have no regrets for that omake! XD ... well, maybe a little. Also there is supposed to be some hidden reference in it on legend27 on youtube? Lol. Don't know what is that, but my beta was pretty excited about it.

Anyhooow~ I wanted to write this chapter earlier because I wanted to post another chapter on my birthday (20 August *wink* *wink*) as a surprise but I am busy next few days so next chapter will probably be around the end of August...

Also.. in this chapter I wrote that she will buy motorbike at 15... and some may know that age where one can ride a motorbike is 16 in Japan, buuuut... that is too late! Thus let's just say that in BnHA universe it's possible to ride bike one year early, okay? XD I sooo want for Kou to own a motorbike.

Oh and about her revenge... you will have to wait for that. It will be as an omake in later chapters.

 _Reviews:_

 _Guest Aug 1 \- Awww~ Than yooou~_

 _xenocanaan \- Katsuki was so sweet, wasn't he? :3 Yeah the tension... it just needed to happen. The distance, too. Kou needs to learn to believe that her brother can take care of himself. The thing with POVers is ... they are written in 3rd person and I am not good with that, so I can't do them in every chapter. Though I tried it in this chapter with omake? XD_

 _Uberch01 \- Yeah, I think so too! Sadly, I am still not very good in writing so readers can't feel much from it. _

_CallmeCrazylol \- Yes she informed her! I actually wrote in chapter that she called her... Lol. Then my nickname worked then. XD_

 _animagirl \- Yeah. Well, while alcohol helped a little be allowing her to 'switch off' ... it was actually Chizome and Katsuki words/action that helped her. Also she just needed time to process everything. Revenge huh... well.. you will have to wait for that. XD_

 _YatogamiKushina \- Tatsumaki... wow that sounds so cool! However I don't think I will be able to use it. Maybe in an omake... we will see._

 _Cesar D. Sizun \- Thank you! I am glad that you like what I am doing with my ff! :)_

 _Random Rockets \- Oooh. That makes me happy! _

_spicyrash \- You... were you reading my mind?! XD_

 _zerom1v \- Yeah! You are absolutely right! I am glad that it was so clear for others to understand~_

 _MylaUchiha \- Um? Well... he IS Stain..? _

_Alexia Colette \- That's... thank you... this made me very happy. _

_A Certain Triangle \- Lololol.. Lucky Leaf? XDD God, that made me laugh. What made you call her that? XD hmm All Might you say? He should appear in chapter 14._

 _SirSwag333-_ _Um... sorry? Your aftermath sounds good, but it would be too OOC for Kou to treat her brother like that. I mean, Izuku was kind of right that she was going too overboard with her clinginess. I hope that this chapter won't make you dislike this whole fanfiction..._

 _HaPPy2901- Well... her hair could be compared to, hmm, let's see... maybe Elsa from Frozen? I suppose, lol. Anyway. Well... I follow manga and I think he didn't appear after he was caught (but I may be mistaken as I didn't read manga for some time now). He is cool, okay, that's why I am trying to give him better past/future. I can't do good rants, so I will only address some parts of it... Anti-heroes... I kind of see Stain as sort of anti-hero? After all he is doing what he thinks is right, but the way he is doing it is very questionable and amoral. Your image of 'guy who would sacrificed one person to save a hundred type of guy' more describes most anime leaders than anti-hero. Just my thought, though. In a way, yes, I think Kou would be able to destroy a country if she ever wanted... but she doesn't really have those kinds of ambitions... well, if something happened to her brother there is a chance... but I will not kill Izuku, lol XD. Yeah the hero society is ridiculous... but well, can't really say that ours isn't. Rectify that... well instead of her being the one changing it, I think Izuku or Chizome are more suited for that. She would rather work behind the scenes than to be a leader._

 _plsnoshame \- Hoo! Thank you then! I am glad~_

 _Igheallnation \- Lol. Yeah you were right. XDD Your two reviews made me laugh. Well, she already flew into a tree XD a border isn't that far off. Also.. um... well... you will see. _

_kylC \- I am glad you see it that way! Also, thank you!_

 _exillion \- Dear commenter, I'd like to thank you with all my heart for your review. It really warmed my heart. I am very much happy_ _you enjoy SIOCs that much. And, my beta just wants to add: Ditto._

 _Puja261 \- Thank you! BTW there is the update! :D _

_Pizzas Cat \- Thank you~. Romance, eh? I don't plan to write any at the moment. I will write light teases here and here - mainly fluff, but right now I don't have any intention to do any romance. I see Kou as an __aromantic person who isn't really interested in someone she sees as 'children' - I mean she is 40+ old mentally... It would be weird? But I guess I will see. Someone will have crush on her though... probably._


	13. In the sweetness of friendship

Well. This small hiatus happened. But like, I actually have a reason this time. I started university and I don't have so much free time now - read none at all. Haha...ha... Anywaaaay.

This chapter is quite fast paced again, it will include first year - half od second year in a new school. And of course, we finally reached canon! I am so proud of myself that I reached that far (because my attention span is... yeah) and of course I am really thankful for all the support I was given from you, my readers. I mean... so many follows, favs and reviews... I am always in heaven when I see them on my email. So thank you all for it!

Also I made something like... character chart(?) for Kou. I mean, I am sure some of you don't really know how she looks (my descriptions are very vague, I know) There are some interesting information and some stuff explained as well. So if you want to read it, it's on my tumblr - keencollectivezombie (link is on my profile, too).

/Don't kill me for that end. Please./

 **Beta:** once again my awesome friend OTrizy

 _Quote: In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. - Khalil Gibran_

* * *

"You need something?" I asked in boredom a stranger after he stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I didn't look up to see who it was as I was too busy with typing on my phone - I had a very serious conversation going on there with Mina.

"You were glaring at me. I know you were! Don't try to lie your way out of this!"

"Yeah! I saw you glaring at Aniki, too!"

"Yeah~!"

"That's right!"

"..."

"I glare at everyone. Don't feel special," I replied distractedly. Damn Mina, I don't want a pink plush unicorn for my birthday! Who buys something like that, anyway?

"Haaah?!" Suddenly someone pushed his face right in front of mine, preventing me from checking my phone. I scowled and turned my full attention towards that annoying person and his companions.

Standing before me were five guys, probably in their late teens. They were wearing tattered clothes and all had bleached hair and piercings in ears and noses… I was not impressed and my face reflected that.

The tallest one out of those clowns, probably a leader, was the one pushing his face into my personal space, the rest was standing behind him, making expressions that were probably supposed to be scary but to me, they just looked extremely moronic.

"I am Nishimura Isao! I am well known around here, so I am sure even someone ignorant as you heard some unpleasant things about me. Scared now, girlie? Are you regretting angering me now, heeeh?" the leader of clowns asked with an arrogant smile. I raised one of my eyebrows.

"Never heard of you. Are you supposed to be famous or what? Whatever. I don't care. You're a nuisance, so go away." I had places to be, you know? Lunch breaks didn't last long and I really wanted to buy something for myself.

Gasps broke the silence that fell upon the group after my words. My lips twitched, I wanted to be irritated by these clowns but they really were so stupidly dramatic that it was becoming a liiittle bit funny.

"Now she has done it."

"Aaah~ she is dead."

"Don't worry. Aniki is a gentleman. He will only half-kill her."

"I don't think that's any better..."

"You... do you have a death wish?" The collar of my school uniform was gripped roughly and I was pulled towards the leader-guy, our faces close enough that I felt his breath on my face. I narrowed my eyes. Okay, stopped being funny. That shithead was too close.

I lifted my hands and placed them on the offending limb. Then I applied pressure just in the right places and with a yelp, the teenager before me released me and took few steps back all the while trying to wriggle his hand out of _my_ grasp. Heh, not a chance.

I let him wriggle around for some time, feeling very vindictive. However, I kept in mind that others won't be stunned for long. Thus after few seconds, I let go of his hand, the sudden action and his momentum making him fall down on his butt. I smirked, instantly feeling better after my little revenge. On a whim, I decided to reply to his question.

"I don't. But it seems you guys have. Well, I always appreciate light exercise before lunch. So who wants to be next?" Might as well take advantage of this situation, it was quite a while I last fought.

"A-Aniki!" Yelled in unison his four companions and all of them shuffled towards him, wanting to help him up. He slapped those offered hands away and stood up with his own strength, a dark scowl present on his face. My lips twitched in amusement. Keep trying to appear scary, puppy.

"You… I wanted to go easy on you because you are a girl. However, you are really starting to tick me off. Guys, she is mine, don't you dare to interfere... And you!" he suddenly pointed a finger at me "PREPARE TO DIE!" he roared and with a bat that somehow appeared in his hand, he rushed at me.

 _'He is too slow,'_ I thought as I stepped to the side, avoiding the first swipe of the bat, crouching down a little to avoid the second.

 _'Is he not gonna use his quirk? Booooring~"_ I continued to weave around his strikes, very quickly growing bored of it. Really, I was looking forward to smack them all down; fighting only one wasn't any challenge. It felt more as if I was bullying the poor guy.

My opponent continued to grow more and more agitated and his swipes started to be less precise and more desperate. Most of the time he was so very open that all I had to do was to step forward and I could take him down with one punch.

I sighed. This was just too pitiful. I jumped backward and while I was still in the air, I used my quirk on a wall behind me, attracting towards it and thus creating a considerable distance between us.

"Hey. Let's just stop. You should know by now that you can't win and I don't like fighting when it's so one-sided. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth," I said, crossing my hands.

"Haaa… haaa… no way in hell I will give up!" he yelled, charging at me again. I groaned and looked skywards. Stupid males and their stupid pride.

"Just… stay… still!"

"Uh-uh. Nope. I don't fancy being hit."

"Aniki! Just let us help you! We can take that bitch down together!" shouted one of the guys, other three making sounds of agreement.

"No! I am gonna take her down on my own!" yelled the leader-guy back then nearly tripping when he over-swiped with his next attack. I resisted an urge to face-palm.

 _'Haaa… This is just dumb and-,_ ' I frowned when my stomach made a soft growling sound. That's it – I am going to end it now. It wasn't going anywhere anyway. If that guy wanted so bad to be beaten up, why shouldn't I comply?

Taking one quick step forward, I entered his personal space and punched him in the stomach. My 'opponent' groaned and took a few clumsy steps back, hunching into himself and letting go of the bat. I followed, not giving him any chance to recover. When I was once again near him, I hit him in the jaw, knocking him out.

"Fighting me on your own is admirable but ultimately stupid," I mumbled to no one in particular. Was a hunger making me more talkative? Hmm…

At any rate, I should have done this from the start. I needed to really grow out of this bad habit I acquired over these past years – playing with my opponents could be really dangerous if I wasn't being careful.

"Oh my god?!"

"Anikiii~?"

"Did she kill him…?"

"Don't even joke about that!"

I was shoved to the side as other four moved past me towards their downed leader. I blinked in silent bewilderment as all four of them started to cry and yell something about "always remembering him." and "not letting his sacrifice go to waste".

Uh… guys… he is only knocked out? And not even that hard? He should wake up in a few minutes…

…

Whatever. Weirdos. Let's just leave before they get an idea to 'revenge their hero' or whatever. I was all for fighting, but not now as my poor stomach had a big need for food. Preferably something very sweet.

I turned around and started to silently walk away. I could buy a strawberry pudding, but I was pretty sure it won't be enough. I had a big appetite when I was hungry… hmm… so… two puddings? Ah no, let's increase it to three. Or maybe even f-

"You… wait…" sudden words stopped my thought process and I paused in my walk. Huh. I should've hit him harder. This is so bothersome…

"He's alive!"

"Aniikiiiii. Waaaa."

"…uu… sniff… so happy…"

"I told y'all Aniki was too strong to be killed like this!"

Would it be considered rude if I just ignored them and walked away? Wait. What I am even thinking about? When did I ever care about whether I was rude? Screw this. I am going to walk away.

"W-wait!

Ignoring. Ignoring. Ignoring. Ignori-

"Please wait!"

Hearing that particular 'p-word' come out of the mouth of my downed opponent made me freeze in my steps. I was a little… curious now what he wanted to say. I mean - I could still lose a second or two here and still have time to buy myself puddings…

"What?" I snapped and turned my head a little towards him, giving him an exaggeratedly impatient glare. I already gave him my attention, no need to make it easier for him.

"You... you are strong..."

"Yeah. I know. Your point?" I was not a modest individual. I knew my fighting ability was fabulous for my age.

"What is your name?"

Uuuh. What. He wanted to know my name? Why? Wait... maybe... he wanted to know it so he could send someone after my head?! Wait no. That was a stupid thought. He didn't feel as if he was that deep into _that_ world.

So I suppose... he was just curious? Or angry at me for humiliating him before his friends and now he wanted a name to curse?

"Midoriya Kou..." I said in the end, not really caring about his reasons. I could always just beat him down again if he came for revenge.

"I'll remember it… from now on… Midoriya Kou… I declare you my honorable rival!"

...

I should have just run away from here when I had a choice.

"EHM. NO THANKS." I yelped and turned around, quickly walking away (I DID NOT use my quirk to help me get from there quicker. DID NOT.)

I really really _really_ had no need for ANOTHER rival.

xXxXxXx

"Um… Kou? Do you know them?"

My eyebrows twitched violently at Mina's question and I resisted an urge to hit someone.

"Just ignore them. They are not important," I answered, not even turning around, knowing full well who was hiding behind the fence of our school, watching us eat like the weirdos they were.

"But they look as if they really want to talk with you…"

"Mina. Ignore them."

"Okay~."

I sighed when she finally let it go and I could go back to eating my apple sandwiches. I was now also thinking about eating that one chocolate bar in my bag right now, even though I wanted to leave it for later. I mean, nothing can help frayed nerves like sugar.

But seriously, those clowns were really bothersome bunch. No matter how much shit I beat out of the 'leader-guy', he always came back for more! Can't he already get the idea? He's so damn stubborn… does he expect to just miraculously win? Wait, that's it. Maybe if I let him win one time, he would stop following me around with his lackeys… eeehm, nope, bad idea. I hate losing.

Buuut... This is really becoming tiresome. They were outside of my school, now, too. True, they didn't actually enter - point to them, really – but still, it's creepy! I turned around a little to look if they were still there, only to be met with 'manly yells' that were challenging me to a fight.

 _'Ugh. What a creeps,_ ' I thought as I send them a middle-finger. Weird happy sounds were heard after that and I felt a massive headache coming. I placed my half-eaten sandwich down and with both hands, I rubbed my temples. I suddenly felt so spent. I think that chocolate bar will cease to exist in a few seconds.

"Hmmm? I know them! Isn't it Nishimura and his gang? He is pretty infamous. What is he yelling… he wants to… fight you? Whoa?! That's so cool! I want to see that!"

My hand froze in its reaching towards my bag when I heard voice I was not expecting. I slowly turned around, to face the boy who spoke and my fears proved to be true. That one guy from my class who saw my bonding moment with Ms. Cat a few years back. What was HE doing here!? I don't remember seeing him hanging out with our group before; he only hangs out with those two guys, right? So what was he doing here? And why the hell is he blushing? Ugh, the headache is increasing…

"… And when the fuck did YOU get here?! And why are you even here?"

"W-what you mean when? I was there from the start!" That doesn't answer my question much, you know…

"And I am here because both of my friends are ill. I didn't have anyone to have lunch with… And so Ashido-san invited me."

Of course. Mina. I sent a glare her way and she sent me a toothy smile as an answer. I continued to bug her for explanation with my glare. She relented fairly easily.

"We can't have him be alone during lunch now, can we? He was looking our way, so I just decided to invite him~." Your great idea is very much unappreciated, Mina. You know damn well how I hate big groups; it's already quite bothersome that I have to hang out with you and your two friends. Socializing, ugh.

"And, Eijiro, was it? You can call me Mina. I dislike those stuffy polite things. We are all classmates here, right? We can as well become friends!"

Friends… haha… Nope. Oh, his name is Eijiro? Huh, first time I heard it. Finally, a name to assign to a face.

"Ooh? Can we? Then you should call me Ei! All my close friends call me that. You are Chie-chan and Hisoka-chan, right?" he turned to address the other two girls that were with us that I kind of ignored most of the time. I mean, I know I am being rude and all, but they didn't seem to be bothered by how I treat them - they look kind of relieved should I say? When it works for both parties involved, it's all good, right? Anyway, this Eijiro guy sure knows his stuff, knowing all our names and all.

"And… uh…" he turned towards me next and I glared at him. Just try to add '-chan', brat.

"….Midoriya-san?" he added unsurely with a funny face. I frowned thoughtfully, 'Midoriya-san' sounded pretty bad too…

"Hahaha. Just call her Kou." I glared at the pink haired girl. Don't speak when you have food in your mouth. Also, don't just decide for me like that! Tsk. What a bothersome girl.

"Uuh, can I?" I turned around to place my glare on the black haired teen. Wait. What the fuck is with that damn blush again? Both of my eyebrows twitched violently as I squashed down an urge to run away to hide in my favorite toilet booth. I hate school. I _officially_ hate school.

Mina started giggling and I snapped my head around once again to look at her. What is so funny, you damn pink brat? Let me add something to my previous decision: I officially hate school and people in general.

"Hah! Yeah. Don't worry. She may look scary on the outside but she is the biggest softie inside~" exclaimed my cheerful friend (I am starting to regret letting her worm herself under my skin, this girl is a natural catastrophe). I am not a softie. I am very antisocial and cool individual!

"Oh, I know what you mean! I once saw her-" Don't YOU dare to start!

Yeah. I hate socializing.

...

Later that day I entered the kitchen where grandma was cooking dinner. With traumatized face I pulled out a chair and sat on it, placing hands on the table in front of me. Feeling the somber atmosphere in the air, grandma muted the cooker and sat herself opposite of me.

"Something happened?"

"Yeah… hey… granny?"

"Yes?"

"Is there any way to avoid… mingling with… _people_?" the last word was released out in a soft whisper.

"I see… I understand now…" She nodded and with a serious face, she walked over to a freezer and pulled a box of something from there. Then walking back to me (attracting two spoons to her on her way), she placed the box before me. I turned my confused stare at the object and when I recognized it, my eye widened.

"Is that… an ice cream?" I asked with more than a little excitement.

"Yes. The best remedy for your trauma. I know it from experience." After her words, we both looked each other deep into eyes. Her eyes were same as mine – eyes of a warrior who saw true horrors of society. I also saw in there my answer –no, there is no way; I can only continue to survive.

I nodded grimly and took the offered spoon, fully intending to eat as much of that ice cream as I could.

...

Two hours later hungry grandpa found us in a living room, watching some random soap opera and eating the second box of ice cream with half eaten pack of cookies lying next to us.

He was not amused when he discovered that dinner was only half-cooked.

xXxXxXx

"I am telling you! This, this… girl beat my little pumpkin! Just look at him! Look how mauled he is!"

I don't know… he doesn't look too bad up, wearing that smug grin and all.

"What if he has permanent problems because of this?"

Is she serious? I sent a disbelieving look at the… lady before me. I only punched him in a nose a little! The worst thing that could happen to him after that was a nosebleed - which stopped by now anyway.

But wow, I am still speechless. Complaining to his mother that someone punched him? That's taking 'being pathetic' on an entirely new level. And… what kind of nickname is pumpkin anyway?

"Madam… " started Hitsuji-sensei, but he was interrupted the very next second.

"I am not that old!" the witch snapped at my teacher. Oy oy, no need to be rude! I can see now from whom the brat inherited the douchebagness.

"I-I am sorry, Miss. I am sure we can solve this in a peaceful manner…"

"Peaceful manner? My son was assaulted! I will sue this little monster and her family!"

... I... I don't have words for once. Is she high or something?

"Ah, I think this doesn't need to come that far. Kids are kids; they were only playing and went too far. I am sure Midoriya-chan wasn't purposely trying to hurt your son."

 _'Oh no, no. I was trying to hurt him, that's for sure.'_ I was intelligent enough to keep this thought to myself, however. I mean, Hitsuji-sensei was cool teacher, no need to make this situation harder for him. And, I didn't want to have detention for the rest of my years here – my homeroom teacher could be quite vindictive when he wanted.

I lost interest in the conversation after that as two adults continued to converse with each other. I was satisfied with staying silent and playing the card of 'cowed teenager that is regretting what she has done' as I knew from the experience that this approach is best when dealing with situations like this.

Not that anyone who knows me would believe in my charade, but hey, for strangers it was convincing enough. Anyway, it's not like anyone would listen to my side of the story if I _did_ try to speak. It would only cost me energy that I could spend on something better. Like trying not to fall asleep or on restraining myself from punching that little asshole again – his shit-eating grin was grating on my nerves.

Suddenly my teacher's hand was placed on my head and I straightened to attention, deciding that this bit of conversation was probably important if I was 'included'.

"… and I am sure my student very much regrets punching your son. Isn't it right, Midoriya-chan?" asked Hitsuji-sensei, turning his pleasant expression towards me, warning gleaming in his eyes. He was telling me with them that cooperation with him was the best choice I could make in that moment. I gritted my teeth and sour expression wanted to show on my face, but by sheer willpower, I managed to leave my face perfectly blank – except occasional twitches of facial muscles. Still quite convincing, if I say so myself.

I looked at the 'Miss' in the room and nodded to her in a 'respectful way', forcing out a very reluctant "Yeah. Very much."

That was okay-ish, right? Can I go home now?

… Apparently no, as I was pressured into saying 'sorry' to the smug little shit. Ugh, this day sucks.

After my very much heartfelt apology, the douche-bag duo left, no doubt feeling satisfied after hearing that I will have one-month long afterschool detention with Hitsuji-sensei – including Saturday's.

Not that bad, I think. I was quite used to detentions. They weren't that bad, just boring. Though this would be my first one in this school and detention with Hitsuji-sensei could either be really enjoyable experience or a total nightmare.

"Midoriya-chan… Why don't you sit?" I look at him with surprise at the invitation. I expected to be given a note explaining what happened (and oh my god, granny is going to kill me) and then dismissed. Well, I kind of owed him after he saved my ass a few minutes ago - dealing with that 'lady' on my own could have been such a pain in the ass. Therefore I nodded and sat on the chair in front of his desk.

A sigh escaped the man before me and he ruffled his white mess of a hair. His gaze didn't leave my form however and I shuffled in my chair, very much unconformable with the scrutiny I was getting from him.

"So. Are you going to tell me why did you punch him?"

That question didn't really surprise me; in fact, I was expecting it the moment he told me to sit. I tilted my head. How should I answer him? Truth or lie? That would depend on his reply to my question.

"Why do you want to know?"

He fell back into his chair with a deadpan expression.

"I am just curious. I am not blind Midoriya-chan, nor deaf. I know about your wild spirit and about your… ha, let's say penchant for troubles. There are already some quite nasty rumors going around about you and it's not even a three months you moved here. However, nobody could really prove them true, or at least there wasn't anyone who would play a 'witness'. This time you made a mistake and chose the wrong target. You also did it in a presence of several witnesses… So yes, I am curious about what made you lose your cool."

 _'Huh…'_ I continued to stare at my homeroom teacher in silence. There were… already rumors about me? How did I miss that? (I blame Mina!)

I feel bad somehow. I didn't plan for my reputation to go THIS bad in such a SHORT amount of time. Was I cursed or something in my past life? Oh wait; I remember my past life and nothing like that ever happened. Can't blame it on that then… damn.

But man, Hitsuji-sensei really didn't beat around the bush. He also didn't look angry at me for doing… well doing what I always do. I could call it 'just being me', I guess…

Ugh, now I really need to say the truth. My near non-existent conscience won't allow me to lie now. Damn. Why do you appear only at times like these?

"Well… he was making fun of my family situation…" Okay I know that this was a poor and classic way to rile someone up – talking shit about their family, I mean. But even if I knew that I felt right into his trap. I was never reasonable when it came to my family or my close friends. Doesn't mean I wasn't a little embarrassed now that all was said and done. I prooobably could have handled it a little better. I can just see the big scolding coming from my teacher and then….granny.

A loud sigh shattered the long silence that fallen upon a room after my confession. I bravely suppressed a shudder from coming out when his piercing gaze fell upon me.

However, I didn't manage to suppress a startled jump when he started to hum and loudly tap on his wooden table. My expression turned to a guarded one as I tried to decipher the face he was making. Was he… thoughtful? Maybe he was trying to think of my punishment?

When he made a victorious smile I felt faint fear grow inside of me. What did… what did he think of?

"I have an idea." I started to sweat nervously. My situation looks bad. His eyes were sparkling now.

"Y-yes?"

"I will not write a note to your grandparents..." Huh? This sounded good, actually.

"Really?" I asked carefully.

"Yes. But on one condition."

 _'Figured,'_ I thought with unhappiness. It would be something ridiculously hard, I just know it. Don't raise my hopes if you are going to crush them so early!

"There is this project that I am currently working on and I could really use a pair of helping hands… If you help me finish it, I will sweep this incident under a rug and there will be no mention of it in your file. Of course, this would mean no detention for you as well. However, I don't know how long it will take to finish. It can even take the remainder of this school year. Working on this project will also require your full attention as one mistake with it could set us back quite a lot…Think very carefully if you are prepared to take this challenge on."

I felt very incredulous and I sure my face reflected that. He wanted….help? From me? I am the exact opposite of responsible model student… I can't even bother to wear same socks – at the moment I had one black and one white.

Just to be sure, I looked around in search of any other being. Surely, he wasn't talking to me?

"So what do you think about my offer?" he asked, looking right at me with his mouth tilted a little with amusement. So he was talking to me… Weird. But I was now very curious about this project of his, that he thought I could help with.

However, on the other hand, this sounded too nice. Those drawbacks he named weren't even inconveniences for me. I mean when you compare them to granny's wrath… Ugh. I feel very faint now. Let' not think about that.

Ah, whatever. Thinking to deep about something never helped me. Let's just not look in a gift horse mouth. Maybe he was really desperate for help and he saw this as a chance to rope someone into it?

And it isn't like I have anything better to do – I still didn't have a luck in finding myself a part-time job and I don't have any hobbies that would entertain me for a long amount of time. I could even use this as an opportunity to hide from Mina and others when they start to be a little too much for my poor antisocial self.

"Sure. I accept."

This should be interesting.

...

I stood quietly with a mouth wide open before the complex looking machine. Its weird looking components were haphazardly scattered throughout the room along with tools that were no-doubt used when that thing was worked on.

Still completely speechless I turned around to look at my teacher; my eyes were totally not sparkling, no such thing happened.

"This… I am going to help you with this?" I asked, not managing to fully contain my excitement and thus not preventing it from affecting my voice.

"Yes. Here, you can use this." An object was offered to me. All my thoughts came to the harsh stop.

I blinked slowly with my face carefully blank.

In reply, Hitsuji-sensei smiled blindingly and continued to extend his hand towards me.

 _'I… I must be seeing wrong…'_ I blinked several times, just to be sure.

As if to prove, that yes, he was dead serious; he neared me and placed that object into my numb hands. All the while wearing that shit-eating grin. I continued to look at him dully.

"Okay. So you can start on that side. I think that there are some boxes in the back where you can place all those parts laying on the floor."

At least, I looked down at the thing in my hands. It was a green bucket. However, that wasn't even close to being the worst. The bucket was full of cleaning products. The realization hit me hard and with it came a strong regret. I should have had just said yes to detention.

"So… you want me to help you by… cleaning."

"Yup! Phew, so glad to have you here. I will finally be able to move in this room a bit."

I didn't even resist the urge this time and did a big face-palm.

 _'God-fucking-damn it.'_

xXxXxXx

I smiled fondly at the computer screen as I continued to half-listen to Izuku's excited ramble about the newest hero that made his debut on TV.

The distance between us was still as hard as ever to endure, but with our regular calls and video-chats, it became bearable. It also helped that I didn't have much free time these days as I either ran around town with Mina in search of a part-time job (when she learned that I was looking for a job as well, she decided that we would look for it together) or I 'helped' sensei… with… cleaning. Ugh. I was still angry at him for fooling me like that. Though he promised me that once I clean everything he will slowly let me actually assist him with whatever he was working on.

Oh, and I also tried to spend some time with Chizome to liven him up a bit. Fighting nonstop for days and then holed himself up in his apartment doing who know what can't be good for him. And that's saying something about the way he was living if someone like me had to scold him about his lifestyle.

Ah wait, Izuku stopped talking and was looking at me with a deadpan face. Shit. I was caught.

"Geee. Nee-chan. I am always so delighted when you give me your full attention," he said sarcastically, still upholding his deadpan face. A drop of sweat came down my temple and my left eyebrow twitched. Was my brother always so scarily salty? Damn. I don't know if I should feel proud or horrified.

"I am so sorry Izuku. My attention just… slipped…" I said sheepishly, scratching my nose. He rolled his eyes at my words and was about say something, but another person in the room, who was until now silent (and probably eating something mom made), made himself known.

"Hah! I am actually a little impressed that she continued to listen to you for so long. Your rambles are getting longer and longer, you really deserve a title of a nerd," said Katsuki as he entered the camera's vision, wearing a cocky smile and with arrogant attitude still strong as ever.

"I actually want to punch you so bad now for that nickname…" I said with narrowed eyes and attracting the nearest pointy object to myself. It became sort of habit these last weeks... It's kind of calming, okay?

Katsuki's eyes widened in horror and his mouth snapped shut after seeing me holding thirty meters long scissors. He obediently shuffled back into the part of the room where I couldn't see. Frantic sounds of crunching were heard followed by a horrified whispers that probably meant something along the lines of "Where the fuck did she get scissors that long?"

I… I also kind of don't know where I get them. Maybe it was one of my birthday's present? Hmm… on second thought, yeah, it was probably present from Chizome.

Izuku coughed to get my attention and I instantly lost focus in my trail of thoughts, turning to him and throwing the scissors somewhere into the back of my room.

I tilted my head when Izuku sent me a mischievous smile, his eyes sparkling with a hidden glee. I sat straight through, very interested in his next words.

"Oh yeah, Nee-chan, I actually have something to tell you… I think Kacchan is taking your absence very hard… poor Kacchan."

A faint choked "What" was heard and the sound of coughing followed. Catching on what my brother was doing, a wide grin grew on my face.

"Yeaaaah?" I stretched out.

"Yup! I mean... He is totally seeing you as his role model now. He's going around beating thugs that you used to beat - I always have to pull him away before things get too serious. He is more antisocial than ever and people are talking about the second coming of you. He also-"

"You fucking nerd. WHAT KIND OF FUCKING NONSENSE ARE SPROUTING NOW?!"

"Ups. I was heard," said my brother lightly with a chuckle. I lifted my eyebrow, trying to stifle my own chuckle. My brother was turning into such a cute sarcastic monster.

Suddenly Katsuki appeared out of nowhere, jumping on my brother, causing both of them to fall down and out of my line of sight. I smirked. Shorty was such a drama queen...

In the following few minutes only shuffling, chuckles and various profanities were heard, until triumphant "Ha!" was voiced and the disheveled head of Katsuki appeared on my screen.

"He is lying. I don't fucking care that you aren't here. Good riddance if I say so myself." Katsuki sounded quite embarrassed and wasn't looking at me when he was talking. Aaaaaw that's so cute.

Faint laughter was heard and the head I was seeing on screen jiggled a little. I tilted my head… was Katsuki…. Was he sitting on Izuku? I didn't know if I should have felt amused or angry. In the end, I decided to snort, Izuku was laughing so he wasn't in pain.

"Don't fucking laugh! And you! What the hell are you snorting for?!"

"Aaaw... shorty is embarrassed~" I cooed.

"W-what?! I am not, you fucking hag!"

"Kacchan is blushing~" was singsong by my brother from under the older boy. I cooed again.

"SHUT UP. I AM NOT."

xXxXxXx

"Um… Kou? Are you sleeping?"

I was rudely woken up from my peaceful slumber in school (our teacher was absent today, so we were supposed to 'self-study', but sleep sounded waaay better) by a somewhat familiar voice. Only because the voice sounded familiar, my first reaction wasn't to eat him alive - only barely though. Thus I only opened one eye and turned my head a little to glare at the person. Black hair, red eyes, sharp teeth. Ugh. Eijiro.

"Not anymore," I said, disgruntled.

"Eheh… sorry… I just wanted to ask… This Saturday, I am organizing a sleepover at my place. So, if you want, you can come. Mina said that she will go and that she will drag you too, but I just wanted to ask if it's okay with you, too?" he said/asked. I continued to glare at him and his annoying blush until he started to fidget under my stare. Then I grunted noncommittally, closed my eye and once again tried to find the best spot on my desk for sleeping.

Once I found it I mumbled out a reply:"If Mina said that I will go, I don't exactly have a choice. Though I need to ask my grandparents, too, so I will tell you for sure tomorrow."

"That's great! I am looking forward to seeing you there, then!"

Damn you, Mina… dragging me into bothersome situations once again.

...

"Hey, granny. My friend asked me if I want to sleep over on Saturday... can I?"

"You have friends?"

"... very funny. Now. Can I?"

"Sure. But don't maim anyone."

"…I'll try."

Surprisingly I really didn't maim anyone on that Saturday.

xXxXxXx

"Aaaww... I missed you so much, my cute little brother. Video chats and calls aren't enough. I couldn't be there on your birthday, too! Damn this, you are year older already. You look all grown up now. Wait, you are few inches taller, I just know it. And your hair! Are they longer? They sure look longer. And-"

"Nee-chan. Calm down. It was only five months." Was Izuku's embarrassed reaction to my fussing. Okay. I know I am a little out of character here. But seriously. I am finally hugging my brother after those horrendous months without him… give me a break. I can act like 'normal sister', for once.

"It felt like lifetime!" I said back, not budging when he wanted to escape my iron-like hold. I heard laughter from the side I sent mom a look that promised that she will be next.

"Nee-chan? Can you let go of me now?"

"No."

"Haa… okay…" Good. Accept your fate my cute little monster.

"Disgusting."

I froze in squeezing the life out of my brother and looked at Katsuki who was standing few meters away from us, doing everything he could to not be seen as our acquaintance.

I smirked evilly and looked at my brother with raised eyebrow, who returned the look with mischievous grin. We both slowly turned towards the ash haired boy, who sends us an uncertain look when he saw our identical expressions.

"... What's with those faces..."

Okay… I normally don't do this but this is the perfect opportunity to freak Katsuki out by…

"Hug attack!"

"Wha- OH FUCK."

xXxXxXx

Time went surprisingly fast in this new place and before I realized, it was already full year that I made a decision to move out of my hometown. And while there were times I wanted nothing more than to go back, now that I was thinking back on that year, I knew that I made a right decision.

I hate to admit it, but my life was really narrow back then. My only thoughts revolved around my family (plus Katsuki and Chizome, I guess) and I was too quick to judge those that weren't part of my 'okay-group'. And I was kind of far too mean and rude to others even if they tried to get close – that's not saying that I am not mean and rude now, but I am a little more… tolerant let's say… just a little though. Also, I now accepted that, yes, other people live on this planet too, and no, I can't evade them all the time.

And concerning the brother complex I had (and probably still have)… I had a long nice chat about it with Mina – who has a sister three years younger than her – and, phew, so it's not only me.

She told me that she also had times where she couldn't help but smother her sister. However, she said that what's very important is to know when to step back. We, older siblings, can't be there for them all the time; they need to grow up on their own so that they can stand on their own legs.

And yeah, while its hard bite to chew, Izuku needs to be independent to become a hero… doesn't mean that I am not going to be fussy every time he ends up getting hurt…. And I probably end up stalking him every time he's going to fight someone.

…

Okay, my over-protectiveness isn't cured, okay? And it never will be, probably. Ha… such is a hard life of an older sister (only by few minutes I admit, but that's a detail).

So yeah, all in all, this year was quite meaningful and brought me a lot. I met new people, made new friends, somewhat matured(?) and my relationship with my brother was more strong than ever… absence makes the heart grow fonder, huh?

And why do I have such philosophical mood? Well, it was all caused by Hitsuji-sensei…

I was still 'helping' him with his project, but by now I advanced to an actual job of 'assisting' and not cleaning. He still refused to tell me what he was trying to make though. Saying it was surprise and all, but truthfully I didn't mind it as much now. I mean, it had fun putting parts together, trying to think up the best way they would sit together and then trying to find another component that would make you think 'yes, this fits just right'.

He also started to teach me basics engineering and where I needed to start if I wanted to build something from a scratch. I admit, I was totally engrossed into everything he was talking about and I actually sort of started to fiddle with my own things after few weeks instead of helping him with his.

He didn't seem to mind, however, so I'd say it was what he was aiming for when he started to teach me those basics. I wonder if this was actually his goal all along when he proposed the idea of me 'assisting' him. Was that machine even something he was working on? Or was it just something he used for enticing his students so that they stay and learn from him? Oooooh. I am onto you, sensei!

Ah, anyway, I sidetracked. Let's go back to how he made me fall into such thoughtful mood.

He asked if I had any dream or if I knew what I wanted to become in the future. He said that second year will fly past even faster than first and soon I would need to decide where I wanted to go after I end my third year here.

…

I feel like I am growing old too fast this time around. I mean, soon I will be fourteen years old (and mentally nearing fifty … oh my god, let's not think about THAT) and then fifteen – which reminds me, I really need to find a better-paid job than newspapers delivery. I want that motorbike, damn it!

At any rate, my answer to his question was blank stare. I have still year to think about it. Do other people think that far into future? They are really amazing then. I have problems to even decide what I will buy for lunch the next day.

In the end, I answered vaguely but truthfully. I wanted to be able to help my brother who will enter U.A. … his reply to it really made me stop and think.

 _"There are more departments in U.A... Hero course is not the only one... You said that you want to help your brother… think about the ways you can do it…"_

Of course, I knew that there were more departments, but I've never really entertained the thought of applying to them. I mean, when I thought about U.A., I only thought about it as a school where my brother wanted to go and I kind-of-wanted-to-follow-him-but-not-really. I mean hero course- pfff, not for me, really. But that didn't mean that other departments should have been ticked off, too. Did it? Damn. I am so stupid.

If I want to support my brother, isn't 'Department of Support' the best choice for me? I could be in the same school as Izuku. And once we both finish it, I can work for the same company. Adding to that, making support equipment doesn't sound bad.

… Of course, this all depends on the fact if I even have what it takes to attend school such as U.A. From what I learned it's supposed to be a first ranked high school for heroics. The entrance exam is said to be really tough, too. I didn't even know what candidates for Support course were required to know – all I knew about U.A. came from my brother, who only learned stuff about Hero department and its exam. I reaaaally would need to work my ass off if I wanted to even have a chance to take an exam.

Ha… let's leave all this for another time. I still have more than a year to decide. Still a lot of time, eh?

xXxXxXx

"Seriously Nee-chan! It was so awesome! That villain was sooo huge! But of course Mouth lady was even taller and she defeated him with one kick! One kick! I wish you saw it. It was amaaaazing! Though the quirk Mt. Lady has doesn't look that convenient. Considering her size, the damage- "

"Yeah. Yeah. We can imagine. Control your nerdy side Izuku. It's annoying," Izuku's cute rambles were cut off by no other but the moody Katsuki. What the hell? Who invited _you_?

Does he really need to be present for most of our calls? He always buts into our little sibling's bonding time. Though I guess this time I should have really expected it because I called Izuku right after his school ended. They are going home the same way and all.

"I think this side of him is cute!" I snapped back, frowning at the phone, even though it wasn't video-call and thus he couldn't see me. It's the thought that counts, right?

Oh shit, I really should look at where I step while walking, I nearly walked into a dog shit now. Seriously people, clean after your pets… speaking of pets, I need to buy a treat for Ms. Cat after I kicked her out to my bed yesterday… I was really tired okay? I stayed late at sensei's workshop, working on this new little project of mine that- oh wait. Shorty was talking. Meeeh.

"- you are lucky you don't have to listen to him all the fucking time. I am freaking tired of all his rambles and st-" Ah same boring shit again then.

"Shut up shorty. Nobody cares about how you feel. I actually didn't even listen to what you were saying until now."

"Fuck you. Also, stop with that shitty nickname already. I am not short - I've never was, now that I think about it, you are just too fucking tall for a girl. And I am quite convinced that by now I am actually taller than you."

"Keep dreaming shorty."

"Guys. Don't argue through a phone. When you have to do it, do it face to face." Oh here is my little angel. I was actually starting to get worried where he disappeared – it was him I wanted to talk to after all. Not shorty.

"Che." Katsuki is as eloquent as ever, I see.

"Ugh. Okay." See? Even I am more eloquent than him and that's saying something about him. Isn't it?

"Great! Anyway Nee-chan-"

 _*Glooop*_

… what the fuck was that sound…

"THE FUCK?"

"AARGH!"

I froze in place after I heard my boy's screams. One surprised and other scared. A cold dread settled in my stomach when I heard a sound of phone hitting ground.

 _'NoNoNo. Not now. Not now that I am not here… Please…Let it just be a misunderstanding…'_

"YOU FUCKER! LET GO OF HIM!" yelled Katsuki and my phone nearly slipped when I registered the meaning of his words. Was he talking about Izuku? I … I didn't hear him yelling anymore… What was happening… What the fuck was happening.

I stayed silent in hopes that I catch more words for me to process their situation fully.

"Don't worry brat. Just stay put for 45 seconds then I will give you my full attention after I take care of this one…" I started to shake when the sleazy sounding and definitely _unfamiliar_ voice spoke up. His words made me see white, but strangely… as angry as I was, I couldn't move. I couldn't do a fucking thing as I desperately listened and hoped for someone to find and help them. They were too young; they weren't able to take on a villain alone, please someone…

"You fucker…. You think I AM JUST GONNA SIT AND WATCH?" Loud booms followed Katsuki's yell - no doubt made by his quirk. Good. Make a sound. Made a fucking bonfire if you want, someone is bound to see or hear it. Someone has to.

I squeezed my phone hard when particularly loud boom sounded near, then… buzzing and beeps were heard.

 _The call was disconnected._

* * *

 **The end~**

Yep. I just did that. I am not sorry (juuust a bit, because I know your pain). I finally know why authors like to write cliff-hangers so much.

Aaanyway, I am sure everyone knows who is appearing next and maaan, I hope I don't make him OOC or something. I really like his character.

I noticed that most of you expected Katsuki to suddenly become all angry towards Izuku and all. Like, no. Sorry. Not happening in my fic. I like Katsuki&Izuku&Kou interactions, they are always the best parts to write in chapters. I probably should have added in summary that this is a slight AU...Maybe later.

And yep, Kou is going for a Support department, how many of you expected this? I noticed that some already caught it in previous chapters. Why did I choose this department? Well, even if Kou didn't have interest in engineering, I'd say there is too much OC that are in 1.A. and I think I am not the only one who is tired of this. With my fanfictions I want to explore and try things that aren't used a lot... so yeah... haha.

(Also yeah, Kirishima is totally crushing on Kou. I just find it hilariously cute. Also Kou's reactions to it are just gold to write. Sorry if someone is bothered by it. However, there won't be any actual romance between them, so don't worry about that.)

Names used in this chapter:

Isao - meaning "honor; merit."  
Chie - meaning "wisdom."  
Hisoka - meaning "reserved."

/I am gonna write this again here because damn I devoted too much time to make that chart for nobody to actually know about it XD So if you want to know more about Kou as an character (her appearance, personality, fighting style and such) just go to my tumblr keencollectivezombie, or to my profile where is link to that character page/

 _Reviews:_

 _Pizzas Cat – Eheheh. You had to wait in that bed for a very long time. Did you fall into eternal sleep by now? XD Sorry! Here it is._

 _xenocanaan \- Glad that you enjoyed the omake! I wasn't really sure about that one XD_

 _Uberch01 \- Your answer to that is in this chapter - no he isn't. I mean, it would sure be fun to tease him about it, but I just love the interactions between the trio._

 _Mandyne \- Hehe. Thank you. I am glad you liked all those new characters. Here is some more. XD_

 _CallmeCrazylol \- Yeah. *sober nod* We all know true horrors of school. Is that how your nickname came to be? Did you go crazy because of school? XD_

 _OTrizy \- Seriously. I am worried you will soon burst with all that inflation to your ego. XD But nah. I think you are too lazy to even burst. :P_

 _kylC \- Omg. Now that you mentioned it, Kou really has too many rivals. What are you doing Kou? Going around, making so many rivals! XD He was there for their 'fight' so I think he kind of expected it... Also he always intrudes on twin's calls, so it isn't like he can't interact with Kou. XD Also, thank you!_

 _HaPPy2901 \- How... How did you know? Are you reading my mind? O.O Seriously, you were so right, it scared me a little. Hmmm I suppose... she kind of fights with Isao, but other than that she is too busy with other things now... I wonder if it stays like that after what happened at the end of chapter... muhaha. A-anyway. I know for sure that I mentioned in first chapter that she wanted to be a mechanic... I think I even gave small clues throughout chapters, maybe? I am really forgetful haha, so maybe I forgot to write those clues. But, seriously, you are good, reading my intentions like this. Her fighting ability... Kou always ends up in troubles, do you think she won't somehow be part of all those crazy things that happen at U.A.? XD_  
 _Uuuh. I was kind of lost there with 'yakuza arc'... it's really too long when I last read BnHA manga. But, I just wanna say: the story will turn really AU at one point... so some arc will be probably different than you expect._  
 _But wow, you really think deep about my fanfiction and Kou... it makes me really happy, you know? About Kou, on one side she is really complex character, but on the other she is pretty simple - complicated, like all people are. But as you said, she knows more about the world that, let's say Izuku. But even she is lost in situations and what to do - keep in mind that in her first life, she did things only for herself... she now had several people she would want to protect if they were in danger and she doesn't know how to handle it. So she just goes with the flow for now..._  
 _What she thinks of All Might... well you will see, when she meets him in the next chapter~. Ah sorry, that prank thing didn't really fit into this chapter. I will put it into next chapters. Shipping KatsukixKou are we? Hahaha. As cute as that ship would be, it's not something I would write. Also, like you already read in this chapter, Katsuki stays the same... just little more volatile, but they relationship didn't change. I think it won't make a sense if he suddenly changed like that. He isn't dumb and could see what was happening between twins and he accepted that the distance was best choice._  
 _You are not ranting at all! I actually like reading long reviews. Also I am happy that you overthink my story so much. It gives me new ideas, too. So keep going~ I am going to be all the more happy~_

 _Minty-Ocean \- Thank you! :3 I am gonna try to keep this up!_

 _The Guy Who Makes Unfair Deals \- Seriously. Love your nickname. Also. YEP! All Might appearance is nearing! XD_

 _SirSwag333 \- That's good then! :3 I am trying to make all my choices reasonable. Even though I fail sometimes. XD Will she know about Izuku's quirk? Hmm.. you will see... But do you really think Izuku can hide something from Kou for long? XD_

 _havarti2 \- Hahaha. Well, she tried in this chapter. Right? XD_

 _iroxanamiranda \- Aaaaw~ Thank you! So, someone DOES read ANs XD I always feel like I am talking to myself. I am now nineteen. XD I feel so old. Cute dogs~ cute fluffy dogs~. Yup. It was Kirishima. Aaaand, yeah MinaxKou friendship is a thing. xD At least Mika makes Kou less antisocial. Aww thank you! You stay safe too! :3_

 _Skittertale \- None at all! Everyone will bow to him when the time comes!_

 _Merlin's Knight \- Tell me about it... I am so lazy and all those test are coming my way... ugh. You recognized him? Really? That's great! I was worried nobody recognized him XD. Yup. He was frustrated. I am sure nobody saw it coming, but I saw it as an necessity... also I really kind of needed to separate them for my story to go where I wanted... ha... ha. So did you expect Support department? I am sure that you did came to this conclusion. I mean, I didn't really try to hide my intentions. I suppose I was just too vague._

 _Aya \- Thank you very much!_

 _Anonymous Sep 4 \- Thank you! I still think I have ways to go with my writing, but your review really made me smile!_

 _Immortalchord \- Are... are you reading my mind? That's EXACTLY what I planned to do with her quirk. Damn. Here goes the surprise. XD Also, thank you very much. And about my other stories... haha... ha... I really need to go back to them and rewrite them. But with school and my laziness I am now capable to only give my attention to one fanfiction. XD_

 _dragon slayer of death 98 \- It's kind of embarrasing, but I don't know who Kazama Yuuki is, but if he/she is terrifying and awesome, I'd say you are doing the right thing imagining him/her as Kou. From which anime that character is?_

 _Guest Sep 25 \- Lol. Yeah. XD I don't know if I was high on something when I wrote that part. XD_

 _SamMayDay89 \- Thank you! I am so happy that you like Kou!_


	14. It takes a real storm

Haha... Sorry that this took so damn long?

I have several excuses, but I bet nobody cares about them, so just let's jump onto more important things!

This chapter was pain in the ass to write, but I managed to finally go over all those things I wanted to address, before we jumped into U.A arc so... yes! U.A arc finally here... or more like in next chapter! I seriously didn't plan to take a _whole_ year to get there when I first started this fanfiction. Huh. Weird.

Also! In two days Abyss will have an one year anniversary~ wow. I didn't think I would stay with it for so long.

Anyway, sorry if this chapter feels weird to you. I am aware that this not my best work - I will try to rewrite it later.

 **Beta: OTrizy**

 _Quote: "It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls. "- Bruce Barton_

* * *

 _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

I continued to look at the phone in my hand in silent shock, my stomach clenching and unclenching painfully as terror cursed through my whole being.

Trying to call Katsuki only ended in another round of beeps, his phone either turned out or destroyed.

I wanted to scream, but my throat closed up and all that came from my mouth when I opened it was strangled half sob/half croak.

My breath quickened and panic started to show its ugly head. I raised my head and looked around with wild eyes, searching for something that could ground me.

I couldn't afford to panic. Not now that my little brother and Katsuki were in danger, attacked by some worthless villain and I was too far away to help and _ohmygodwhatiftheywerealreadydeadand_ -

I punched a wall of the nearest house with my left hand. _Hard._

Instantly, pain resonated through my body and I let my eyes rest on my hand. There was a spray of red liquid on my knuckles. I stared with numb detachment as blood continued to travel down my hand and then slipping and falling on a ground.

My thoughts swirled around a stop.

Narrowing my eyes, I clenched my fists. The pain which was caused by the move was welcoming, grounding me. My bag slid down my shoulders.

Then I j _umped_.

Using my quirk, I attracted myself to the highest building in my near vicinity and ignoring the discomfort of being suspended in the air without any support.

Once I was close to the building I lessened the push on my powers so that I didn't crash into a building, but only gently landed on it.

Well, the land wasn't exactly 'gentle'. My legs screamed in pain when I once again pushed off the building, pulling myself to another one. The pain was pointedly ignored (In the back of my mind, I decided that I would start a new project once this mess was taken care of - making landing boots would be my top priority)

I continued to fly, land and jump for next five minutes until I crashed in front of the lone house on the outskirts of the city

Chizome's house.

I knew he wasn't at home, but I didn't need him to be.

All I needed was...

On aching legs, I walked towards his door and fished out a chainlet with a key (I received it a few years back) on it from under my shirt. I unlocked and entered his house.

Still standing in the entrance hall, I attracted a key that hanged on the other side of the hallway.

With it, I only needed a few more minutes until I was sitting in a front-seat of his car, driving it in speed that was far surpassing the speed limit.

I couldn't enjoy finally sitting in the car after so many years, even if I wanted. My whole body was tense with nerves, eyebrows scrunched with knuckles white on the steering wheel, one hand red with still dripping blood.

 _'Chizome will kill me,'_ I thought detachedly as it dripped on the grey rug. Blood was hard to get rid of.

It would take her at least two hours and some to get to her destination, but it was the fastest way to get there that she could think of.

Her grasp on a steering wheel tightened even more.

 _'Please let them be safe.'_

* * *

 **~Change of POV~**

* * *

"What the fuck just happened..."

Looking back on what happened in previous several minutes; Bakugo Katsuki promptly decided that today certainly wasn't a good day.

It started relatively normally - with them suffering through long lectures at their shitty school. Then when they finally went home; of course that shitty hag had to call. Completely spoiling his _perfectly normal_ day.

They had their regular bickering match, which he was pretty sure they now only did because it became a habit. Izuku, the nerd he was, of course, stopped them before it could even relatively become fun so he started to take longer strips to go faster as he didn't want to hear their disgusting-fond-siblings-talks.

At that was when some shitty slime villain decided to appear from who knows where and attack his quirkless friend.

He was understandably not impressed and _fucking furious_.

So. He let go of the proverbial reigns he had on his quirk and was about to boom the shit out of this sorry excuse of a villain.

Then the All fucking Might jumped out of nowhere, freed Izuku, trashed that shitty villain and stuffed that shithead into a _fucking plastic bottle_.

All in a span of seconds.

Katsuki had only enough brainpower to shut his gaping mouth after everything was done. He was too stunned to even swear.

He shook off his shock the moment Izuku regained his consciousness, which was honestly pretty reassuring as he was a little... unnerved when Izuku didn't instantly wake up (No. He wasn't afraid. Not one bit. Nope)

He honestly should have seen coming what happened next, Izuku being Izuku and all. But he wasn't and thus when All Might jumped away, he was left standing in bewildered silence as Izuku just fucking _latched_ on All Might's leg and thus disappeared with him.

...

Bakugo Katsuki didn't know if he should laugh at the incredulity of the whole situation or just be angry that he was left out of whatever Izuku wanted to say to the hero.

In the end, he decided to shrug it off and go home to process everything. Tomorrow he would drill Izuku for answers, but today, he just wanted to sleep.

As he started to walk away, he had a feeling like he was forgetting something or someone. And the feeling prevailed for a next few minutes until he abruptly stopped and slapped himself.

He was so stupid.

The fucking hag was no doubt freaking out and either having a panic attack or in the middle of making sure to get here the fastest way possible. Really, he wouldn't put it past her to maim several people to just get here fast.

Thus, he was about to reach to his phone (which he had in his bag, turned out), but then-

"I am really lucky... to meet the kid with such powerful quirk a second time in one day..."

-the 'gloop' sound was back and that fucking piece of shit was right before him. He only had enough time to yelp in surprise before he was enveloped by slimy limbs and suddenly he couldn't breathe nor move and -

He decided to change his previous verdict of this not being a 'good-day'. This day was a _fucking disaster._

* * *

 **~Change of POV~**

* * *

Two hours and a half.

Fucking two hours and a half until I finally arrived. Breaking several speed limits on the way and at one time there was police tailing her, but seriously why should I care about such insignificant things when my brother and friend were in danger.

I parked the car on the outskirts of the city, knowing full well that going through the city by car would be a slow process. Jumping out once I was sure it would stay where it was, I had still enough conscience to lock it (I paid just a little mind to the scratches I made on the car – Chizome may very well kill me, but that was for another time) and then I flew again, trying to push despairing thoughts that they very well could be dead by now.

The need to concentrate on controlling my quirk (I wouldn't be of any help if I splattered myself on a wall) helped hold such thoughts at bay.

But soon enough even that wouldn't be enough to keep me from falling panic attack because I _couldn't_ find them. I went all the way to their school and then traced their likely steps to our house, but all I found was Izuku's bag, but without either boy being there.

Now as I stood before our house, absentmindedly wrapping a bandage on my hand (which I found in Izuku's bag – he was always prepared for everything, just like I taught him), I was still trying to decide if I should go in and hopefully find my brother there (or scare my mother who probably still didn't know what happened) or if I should continue to search for my brother and Katsuki through this big ass city- which would take a whole day and would probably be as useful as just standing here and waiting.

It was maddening to not know what happened and just uselessly stand before our house with my brother's bag in my hand and thinking about various scenarios (one being worse than the other).

I took in a deep breath that sounded wet (and there were tear-tracks on my face, but I chose to ignore them) and was about to jump away and search the city anyway, because standing in one place never solved anything, but then... I paused when I heard my name.

"Kou?"

Something that suspiciously sounded like sob came out of my mouth when I heard Katsuki's voice. I turned my head around so fast, that my neck creaked painfully, but I paid no mind to that as I closed the distance between us and started to squeeze the life out of him.

"What the fuck hag..." he croaked in surprise, but I didn't let him speak more. I was too high-strung and words started to flow out.

"Oh my god. I thought you were dead. I thought- The call was disconnected and your number was unavailable and it took so fucking long to get here. And I found the bag. You weren't there. I couldn't find you. And you still didn't take my calls. And I thought- I thought... I was scared and there was-" I honest to god don't know what I continued to babble in the next five minutes. All I knew was that Katsuki was here and safe and he looked a little roughed up and tired, but safe. Also not sad, so Izuku was alive too. _Her boys were safe._

Katsuki started to fidget in my hold and awkwardly patted my back.

...With one of them completely creeped out and uncomfortable by my sudden clinginess, but fuck that. My nerves deserved this tiny moment of peace, thank you very much.

"Uh... sorry... Is it okay? ... I am... here?" he tried to comfort me. I snorted through my tears.

"You suck at this," I whispered into his shoulder. He was about my height now (damn) so it was a little uncomfortable position for my already pretty abused neck. I didn't care.

He made an annoyed sound (which was totally just an act, shorty, you need to step up your game) at my words and swatted my head, huffing out a quiet: "I tried."

I hummed in acquiescence and sighed. There was still a lot to do. Find out the full story of what happened. And find Izuku and check out if he was hurt.

Detaching from Katsuki, I cringed when I saw the little wet patch on his shoulder. He noticed it soon too, grimacing and releasing a disgusted whine.

"Uh... This is... I am so-"

"Don't bother," he grunted out, effectively stopping my apology. I blinked but nodded when he sent me a look that said 'This never happened. And we shall never talk about it'. Honestly, I am all for forgetting this little crying episode, because this was embarrassing. It is just my luck that Katsuki was _always_ there when I feel like crying. The guy had to have some scary sixth sense or something.

We continued to look at each other in awkward silence as we both thought about what to say next. I was about to blurt out something like 'Where is Izuku', but surprisingly he was the first to speak.

"The nerd said he wants to take a walk. So you probably can find him... somewhere around," he said, already knowing me well it seems. I was about to thank him because apparently, I was emotional enough to thank shorty, however, he just frowned and turned, walking away.

"Uh... bye...?" I mumbled at his retreating back. Shaking my head, I slapped my cheeks to try to restart my brain. Seriously, I needed to get a hold of myself. This anxious bundle of nerves was so not me.

Okay, girl. Let's find Izuku.

Using my quirk, I landed safely on the roof of our house, now that I was relatively calmed down, it was easier to control my quirk and less... messier (I had a feeling I broke several windows in my frenzy). My legs still hurt like a bitch though. Well... I could endure the pain for a little longer. I wanted to make sure my brother was really safe.

Several roofs later, I had to jump on the wall instead of a roof, as that house was way bigger than the last one and my attraction only worked in a straight line. I was about to walk up the wall like an upgraded version of Spider-man (I was nearly glued to the wall, so I just had to reduce or increase 'attraction' and thus able to walk up vertical surface like a pro... with occasional slips) but then I heard something... that suspiciously sounded like my brother crying.

 _What the fuck._

My sister's instinct tingling, I was about seconds away to destroy whoever made him cry, but then I heard words that made me stop completely.

 _"You can become a hero."_

I stayed put and confused expression appeared on my face. Was the man... trying to cheer up my brother, or what?

"You're the one who is worthy to inherit my power."

What. Okay. I am totally lost.

First: Who the fuck are you dude. Second: What the fuck. And third: was he trying to scam my brother, because if he was, he would wish he was never born, oh and-

"Your power? What do you mean by that, All Might?"

Wait. All Might?

...

 _What_ the fuck is _even_ happening here.

xXxXxXx

So. I was still confused. But somehow, I now got the basis of what was talked about (yep, I continued to eavesdrop. I am so not sorry).

The number one hero's quirk was called 'One for All' and was actually something that could be passed onto others. And All Might decided that he would make my brother his next successor...

I knew it.

I fucking knew that this universe wasn't so fucked up that my brother won't have a chance to be a hero he so wanted.

I had the biggest smile on my face by the time those two finished talking, which was probably why all those birds changed courses when they saw me. Rude. I didn't look that scary when I smiled! ... maybe...

True, there was still a little chance that this all was some elaborate prank, but Izuku believed that the one before him was All Might and my brother knew absolutely _everything_ about the guy, so mistaking someone else for his favorite hero was unthinkable. And I didn't think All Might was someone who would do something as cruel as to lead on a little kid.

Hearing quick footsteps, I tilted my head a little and right under me I saw my smiling brother, running and too lost in his own thoughts to notice me. Which was only for the best – I didn't want to be scolded by my brother for eavesdropping.

When he turned the corner, I dropped down from my... _perch_ on the wall.

Instantly, a wave of dizziness crashed into me once and I had to take few wobbly steps with my aching legs to found some resemblance of equilibrium. Shit. I was so exhausted suddenly.

But considering the mad dash here, then jumping to our house and then glued to a wall for who knows how long... that would tire a girl out. And that wasn't counting the _emotional_ drain.

I was ready to drop out right here, to be honest.

Still. I wanted to check my little bro for any wounds and also hearing the full story of what happened would be greatly appreciated.

Yawning slightly, I was about to walk my way home, but-

"Miss, I am sorry to stop you so suddenly, but I would like to ask you how much exactly you heard."

\- suddenly, big hand was placed on my left shoulder and a deep voice boomed behind me.

I flinched slightly, surprised at being caught off guard. Then I turned around quickly, shrugging the hand and jumping back to make space between me and the one speaking.

 _'Oh shit.'_

Taking in a tall figure of a number one hero, my back straightened and I squared my shoulders, preparing myself for the verbal lashing. I was caught eavesdropping, but that didn't mean I would look guilty, now that I was caught. I would do it again if situation rose, so he could say all he wants, I didn't feel sorry.

Looking up into shadowed eyes of the man before me, I weighted pros and cons of either behaving like a little shit, not answering or being honest. I was leaning toward the 'little shit' just to be difficult but then again, I was tired both emotionally and physically and I wasn't in a mood to play games so I decided for curt honestly.

And I had to reluctantly admit the guy's offer was... he made Izuku happy and he gave him means by which he can fulfill his dream... and that was something I could never achieve. I was grateful.

So, taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth.

"I heard more or less everything. But don't worry. It's safe with me. He is my brother," I said quickly and to the point. I knew this was some big secret, but it wasn't like I would babble it to anyone and endanger my brother. I would only appeal on Izuku to inform Katsuki of this development – he was our friend, no matter how much he and I bitched about it. He deserved to know.

"Oh. Young Midoriya's sister? Indeed, I can see the resemblance now," he boomed and then started to laugh... and then coughed up blood and cloud of smoke appeared. When it cleared in the place of a buffed up man stood... not so buffed up man. More like a skeleton, really.

"What the hell..." slipped out without me even knowing.

This... This was. Ok. Fuck this shit. I am out. Too many things happened today for me to properly process them. Let's ignore the... man and go away.

I was about to do just that, but the macho-turned-skeleton spoke up before I could even turn around.

"I... I believe you that for your brother's safety you will keep silent about what you heard. And I am sorry to ask you this, but can you keep this form a secret, too?" his bony face was set in a grim seriousness that compelled me to answer.

"Sure. Whatever," I said in feigned nonchalance, no need to show him how stunned I was by the sudden change. Now, with this done, I will slowly back away and pretend this didn't happen.

That was what I wanted to do if I wasn't stopped. Again. Good grief what now?

"What?" I snapped, but there was no heat behind it as I needed to preserve my energy for the way home.

There were few seconds of silence.

"You... aren't curious about this change?" he asked in the end and I squashed down an urge to groan. _This_ was why he stopped me? I rolled my eyes.

I didn't give a shit about his transformation or more precisely I didn't want to know. It was like knowing that Clark Kent was actually a Superman. In this particular case the less I knew about _why_ , the better (and easier) things would be for me.

"Honestly? Nope. Now, if you excuse me, I have somewhere to be. We had a good talk. We can repeat it... never. Yeah, that would be good. Bye." That was clear enough 'fuck off', right? Right.

I'd even put plenty of effort into sounding polite (he was my brother's would-be-tutor and all), so he should feel honored.

Instead of honoring he looked stunned. Which was weird - I didn't say anything that would cause such reaction. I promptly decided that the blonde man before me was weird, even more, that I first thought.

Anyway, with this done, I turned around and walked away. I wasn't stopped this time, which was nice. Then I realized, belatedly I have to say, that I wasn't scolded – which was even nicer. People tend to bitch about the smallest things, honestly.

... Though, I was little creeped out when I heard sudden laughter behind me.

For my sanity, I decided that I would _not_ turn around and ask what the fuck was so funny. I already felt first symptoms of a headache coming.

xXxXxXx

When I finally got home, both my brother and mom were surprised by my sudden appearance, which was fair because I've never done sudden visits before. Fortunately, it was Friday so I just said I missed home to mom (because apparently she didn't know what happened earlier that day and I didn't want to worry her) and sent Izuku a _look_ that said that we need to talk. He instantly understood and his face paled.

Good. Know that you have a lot of explaining to do my dear little brother.

On my way into the house, I texted grandma saying where I was and then Chizome... well he probably should know that I stole his car.

I pointedly ignored my phone for the remained of the day because I didn't want to deal with my angry friend. I would explain what happened to him... later. Much later. After he cools down a little, yep.

Anyway, with that done and after we had delicious dinner, I dragged my brother into our room and made him _talk_.

Well, I fell asleep in the middle to be honest, which was why I had him repeat it the next morning.

I made sure to tell him exactly _how_ I felt about his stupid stunt of rushing at villain without any plan and no way to defend himself. I probably would have done the same if I was in his shoes, but I would certainly have a more elaborated plan in mind than 'throw bag and hope for the best'.

I spent whole weekend practically glued to my brother (he had two days before his training started, so I made sure to make his last training-free days memorable).

Mom found out the story of what happened (from rumors) the very next day and when she confronted us it was a mess. The scolding was expected and manageable, but the crying afterward.. we decided to cheer her up by taking her to our favorite aquarium... where I was crushed when I found out my shark-friend died last month. I had to eat three big scoops of strawberry ice-cream to cheer myself up.

On Sunday we dragged Katsuki and his family to swimming pool, where we found a quiet corner and Izuku told him that he won't be quirkless anymore. Of course, he first asked All Might if it was okay to tell Katsuki – I made _sure_ the answer would be in positive by standing behind Izuku when was asking and glaring daggers at the skeleton man.

xXxXxXx

"Chizome?"

"Hmph."

"Come on! Are you still mad about those scratches? I already gave you all my savings from my part-time job as an apology!"

"Hmph."

I narrowed my eyes at the ridiculous male before me. He was supposed to be the adult there but instead was pouting like a child!

Okay. I can admit that stealing his car and scrape it was a dick move, but what was I supposed to do? Steal someone else's car? (Not that this option didn't cross my mind, but unlocking and starting up a car without proper tools would be near impossible) I already told him about the situation which leads to me stealing it, but he just shrugged it and continued to ignore me!

He was such a _freaking child_.

I decided to give him a week to get over it and when it didn't work, another one. With same results.

The guy could hold a grudge pretty long it seems - which was pretty annoying because there was something I needed to talk over with him.

The incident that happened two weeks ago made me realize that I've become far too complacent in this life. I forgot that life was a fragile thing and everything could change in a blink of an eye.

I mean, I always knew that, however... I pushed it into the back of my mind. I pretended like it didn't apply to me and people around me anymore.

I knew Izuku wanted to become a hero and with me deciding that that path wasn't for me, it wasn't like I could shield my brother from everything as he would fight villains one day without me being here. But... I... there was always this small, disgusting part of me that hoped that he won't become a hero.

I tried to banish such thoughts ... unsuccessfully.

It just... Izuku was quirkless and that couldn't be changed no matter how much we wanted (at least I thought so before) and in that state, it was nearly impossible for him to enter hero course in U.A. (even I heard stories about how hard the entrance test was). I tried to stay positive for my brother and tried to even persuade myself that he did have a minuscule chance, however...

Even though it made me a horrible sister, deep down I knew that he didn't stand a chance. And I was _glad_.

I just wanted for Izuku to be safe and...

Well, it wasn't important now, was it? My brother won't be quirkless anymore and after that, nothing will stand between him and his dream.

And there was nothing I could do, but to cheer him from sidelines, being useless like the other day... in _theory_.

And she was never a theory person.

xXxXxXx

"Are you sure about this?"

I nodded with a crooked smile and raised my hands to make sure the hood of my gray hoodie was placed securely on my head. Then I tugged on ski goggles – better safe than to be sorry right.

Taking a deep breath I waved my hand to let him know I was ready. Chizome released an exasperated sigh, but grunted in acquiescence and started to walk towards the shady building before us. I followed behind him silently, taking moment to take in his appearance.

It was the first time I saw him in his full 'villain attire'. I snorted silently. He looked more ridiculous that scary to her with those scraps he called clothes, but hey to each his own.

I smiled innocently when he turned to glare at me warily after hearing my snort. Don't worry, I wasn't laughing at you... not at all.

Someone slithered out of the shadows next to an entrance of the building – literally. I looked in amusement as the asphalt-like-substance slowly turned into shabby, dark-skinned man who looked at the two of us (but more at Chizome as I was partly obscured by my friend) with suspicion.

Chizome flashed something at him and the man nodded and stepped aside, letting us go through the door. When we entered, we were greeted by the sight of... hall that ended with another door. So normal looking. Boring.

Behind the door was a stairway that led deep down. We started to unhurriedly descend and slowly, the sounds reached me.

Excitement bubbled in me as I thought about our destination.

I've never actually thought I would do this.

I mean, I wanted to be clean for as long as possible in this life... but underground fighting wasn't _exactly_ illegal. It was more in a grey area if anything. But then, with more than half of occupants being villains (e.g. Chizome here), if someone with the clean plate was caught there, fighting, it wouldn't look very good on his resume.

Ha. Resume. As if I cared about something like that.

"I want half of what you win today and I will forgive what you did to my car," said Chizome gruffly as we neared the end of stairs. My left eyebrow twitched at his words. What did I do to his car? Seriously, he was such a drama queen. It was hardly scratched!

"Yes. Yes," I mumbled, already tired of his constant whining.

Anyway, I wasn't there only for the money (though that was one of the reasons – I wanted to buy that damn motorcycle already), but this was actually one of my precautions, which would help not feel so useless next time Izuku would require my help.

Sure, the main problem the other day was that I was too far away, but that would be solved if I manage to pass the entrance exam for Support course at U.A. High school.

I was certain that, now that Izuku had a quirk (or will have – don't know how this 'succession' thingy works), he would somehow pull through and pass the test. So all needed was to pass the theory exam... which... okay... that would be a problem, but Hitsuji-sensei told me that he will help me prepare when I told him about my decision, so there was that.

Anyway, so we would be in the same school. And once we finish our education (I would need to work my ass off to even finish it though. Damn, next few years would be hell), I will try to get a job in same agency as him – heroes need someone to clothe them, made them things that work with their quirk and other support things. This way I could be always close – viola distance thing won't be a problem.

Of course, I won't mess with his fights. I have full confidence that by the time he graduates he will be capable enough to endure whatever shit Lady Lucks throws at him.

But there are other ways I can help him – either by infiltrating somewhere he couldn't go (because of being known) or by 'disposing' of people. Because let's be honest - heroes don't kill people, but sometimes, the only way to stop someone is to kill them.

Of course both things I would only be able to do without him knowing, but I am pretty good at hiding things if I say so myself.

Also. If there was ever a situation where he can't defeat someone (which can totally happen, nobody is invincible) and Katsuki or other heroes won't be here to help him... it's always better to stay in shape so _I_ can help him. Even if he didn't want my help, I won't let him die.

I sidetracked a little, but the basic thing is: for me to be able to do all these things, I needed experience.

And I also needed to become good enough, that I would be able to run away from heroes if they caught me interfering. Because there is this stupid law that people can't fight with villains unless they have a license. But hey, whoever said I've cared about breaking law?

In the first place, if they don't catch me or even knew it was me... well, my quirk was very useful for 'moving away at high speed' indeed.

Of course, running away would make me a villain in their eyes...hmm... should I invest in a better getup that is a gray hoodie and ski goggles? I didn't want to be known as 'lame-clothed villain'...

xXxXxXx

"I AM SO SORRY!"

I paused what I was doing (slipping on my inside shoes) and turned my head to look what that was about. My eyebrow rose in surprise when I saw Eijiro, doing a near full-body bow in front of Mina's friends.

Confused by the scene, I decided to stay here for a little longer and see what was going on. It was one of those rare times that weird things were happening and I wasn't part of them, so of course, I was set on being an audience.

My incredulousness grew as I slowly put puzzles together. However, just so I don't jump to false conclusions, I've made sure to interrogate Mina and get the full story.

Somehow, without me knowing (which wasn't that big feat these days as I was either too busy studying, fighting or making stuff in Hitsuji-sensei's workshop) a few day ago a villain appeared in the city and was asking for hero office - which I found kind of stupid, but okay.

Anyway, he decided to ask Mina's friends (whose names I can't ever remember), who were too scared to answer and made villain angry. But then Mina appeared and told him wrong directions, like the total badass I knew she was. The guy believed her and when he left, the three of them made off, disappearing before he could return, angry that he was lied to.

And apparently Eijiro was there too and now he had some wild fantasy that he was the most horrible human being for being scared.

Stupid, but understandable (especially because I knew he wanted to be a hero – he was very obvious about it). From the looks of it, his first meeting with villain didn't go as he envisioned.

I was worried about him a little, but then I saw him running laps around neighbourhood, doing push-up or different things in park and he even came to me with blushing face (oh god, please stop it, I don't know how to address _that_ ) and asked me for pointers how to properly fight.

So I'd say that whatever ran through his head wasn't negative and he had it under control.

xXxXxXx

I fell into my bed, feeling oddly calm even though tomorrow would decide if my efforts at studying were for naught or if I really had something in that head of mine.

Of course, entrance test into Department of Support was significantly easier than in Hero Department. There was also a smaller number of applicants and three classes were opened this year so I think I had a pretty big chance to get there... hopefully.

"Miss Cat~ Come here~~ Comfort me~~" I whined at my animal companion who sent me a stare full of judgment and then turned around as if I was too disgusting to even look at. Rude.

 _I love her._

I hummed and stretched my hands as I looked around the room. Just a few weeks and I will be back where mom and Izuku were. Not that I disliked being with my grandparents but... I missed mom and Izuku.

It seemed like three years fled in a blink of an eye. It was a little disconcerting, to be honest. But not as much as the fact that I was already _fifteen_ years old.

 _I was there for fifteen years._

It... So much happened and still... Did I change at all? I want to believe that I did.

I turned around and squashed my face into the blue pillow, blocking my sight and the world around me.

I should stop thinking such useless thoughts and go sleep already. Tomorrow was a big day and I will get there on my _beautiful_ motorcycle (it was black with some grey here and there). I only had it for a month but I fiercely loved that baby.

Grandma told me that it was the fastest way to the grave; I maturely stuck out my tongue at her.

Shaking my head and stopping my thoughts that way, I stood up and made my way to my bag to check if I had everything in there.

Pencil case full of spare pencils and pens, wallet, keys and of course sketched drafts of some of my ideas – they told us to bring as many as we could, so they have an easier time evaluating them.

I should probably add spare eraser too. What if I lose the one I had in my pencil case? I won't be able to draw without it because I tended to use erasers a lot – especially if I had to draw something under pressure. And you bet that I will be under pressure when I had to draw a sketch of something in _one_ hour.

Haa...

Let's just go sleep.

* * *

The end~

And... this is it. Yeah. No fight scenes. Sorry. Haha.

Next chapter will be... when I move my ass to write it. Hopefully soon.

 _Reviews:_

 _xenocanaan \- Oh yes. She has the worst luck doesn't she? Haha (totally my fault). Thank youuu~ and sorry that it took so long._

 _Glasses Writer \- Well... she didn't exactly like him. But she tries to be polite, because she is grateful. But yeah... maybe if she interacts more with him, she starts to like him? haha._

 _Pizzas Cat \- Heh. I bet by now you fell into eternal sleep this time. And yeah, sorry that you had such high expectations about this chapter and they didn't happen. Kou will have her badass moments in the future, but this time I couldn't put them into this chapter._

 _Uberch01 \- I AM SO SORRY. I AM INDEED THE MOST HORRIBLE WRITER._

 _HaPPy2901 \- Once again I am simply shook by the size of your review. I love it! Seriously, it makes me so happy that this is your favourite BnHA fanfiction. Haha. Yeah, I just love Kirishima and I wanted to push him into fic at least some way (he was supposed to be her best friend but them Mina pushed herself into that place and... ahaha). He would really need all the help he can, because Kou will totally not touch his crush unless someone forces her to address it haha. And no, Katsuki doesn't see her that way. Sorry XD. And yeah also sorry that it takes me so long to update, I've never thought it would took that much time to be honest. I actually already wrote a little about her past and its in the previous chapters, so yeah. You probably forgot because I take my time updating. She... she just isnt the brain type to be honest haha._  
 _Parkour XDD haha. That made my laugh. She... kinds of know it? I mean, I don't know haha. And nope, her seductions skills are at zero level. She doesn't care about stuffs like that. And yeah, she know how to tweak stuff but hacking isn't her forte XD there is too many numbers and her head would totally hurt all the time if she tried it. But overall you were pretty on point with your guesses._  
 _Her Yandere side... you know, I've never saw it like that but I guess you are right XD I didn't notice I've wrote a yandere character, haha. Those scissors... you are right, she need to use them for intimidation more (I've totally forgoten about them so thank you for reminding me XD). And don't worry, I actually kind of like Mineta? I mean he is funny character and he isn't only the_ pervert. _There is more to him and I don't want to remove him just because lot of people dislike this side of him, I mean aren't we all perverts deep down?_  
 _Well, I realise that I changed a lot be Katsuki being less aggressive, but... I just liked the idea of him and Izuku being friends too much to pass this up. But I understand how you feel - it had its charm._

 _CallmeCrazylol \- Lol. I see. XDD Your nickname has a interesting history then. Well. Hopefully nobody died in this long wait. Muhaha. And I am actually impressed that I managed to write female version of Hibari without me even realizing it. xD_

 _Merlin's Knight \- Kirishima being shy/unsure when he was younger is actually canon. He found his resolve after the incident that I addressed shortly in the chapter - he also colors his hair to red right before U.A entrance exam too. I find their interactions sweet too! I am glad its not only me~. Well. Kou survived, just her poor legs and hand were quite abused during it._

 _starfish \- Kekeke. I know. It was horrible of me. Oh my god, I am glad it cheered you. I actually failed two test just few days ago, so I started to write to cheer myself up haha._

 _Lord Kirkleton \- OMG. Thank you! He is really cute with black hair, isn't he? And yeah, I wanted to include Tokoyami too, but there wasn't space for him haha. Romance... eh. I think there won't be much of this. If at all. I guess I could do omakes..._

 _Maester Ta \- You're welcome! And yes~ slime guy~_

 _Guest Oct 18 \- Well... there is more. If a bit late._

 _swordworks \- Well. I actually don't know that would go. My imagination works weirdly. And Kou has her fists and blades as main weapons._

 _Mizudoriko \- Hehehe. I also noticed it. I guess she is? Haha._

 _OTrizy \- I know my bear friend. You as well did a good job._

 _\- Oh well. Thank you for your kind words, I love being evil. Muhahahaha. And yes. Before, when I started, I planned for her to be in 1.A as well, but then... I realized I don't like it that much (and I also OCs always end in 1.A and I am trying to make this as original as possible). But don't worry, with all her friends being there, she will be quite a lot in that classroom haha._

 _tobimadaraisawsome666 \- You mean chapter 2? I... thank you. I actually really dislike that one, so it makes me feel better that it isn't that bad and someone likes it._

 _shadow-dog18 \- Awawawa. Thank you! I will try to write more often from now on._

 _kingslight12 \- My friend... are you reading my mind?_

 _Alice \- Deep suite? Um sorry, but I don't understand._

 _SmexyBananas \- Indeed I didn't *doing full-body bow* PLEASE FORGIVE ME._

 _Shadowing \- Hahaha. Thank you._

 _ngocthyv \- Really? You did? Wow. Thank you._

 _Littlecosma001 \- Thank you. The update took long, I know. Haha._

 _Guest Dec 9 \- Aaaw. I just want to hug you for your words. Thank you. I don't think I write that good, but it makes me happy that you think so._

 _SunshineBubbles \- Is it? Thank you~_


	15. We keep moving forward

..Hi. Sorry.  
I am late, I know.

So. Yeah. Hiatus happened.

I don't know how many of you are interested in hearing my excuses, but I feel like I own you at least some explanation. It will be at the end of the chapter, where I usually put answers to reviews but not today, because while I am very grateful for any of your reviews, I feel like I would never update again if I tried to answer to all that gatherer over this year. You don't have to read my explanation of course, lol.

But before that, I need to address another thing. Because. We. reached. **1000.** followers. Omg.  
Thank you so much! All of you who review, follow, favorite... thank you. It makes me so happy. So. Just thank you... I am not good with emotional stuff, I am very sorry for this dry thanks.

Also. I am now twenty. Yay.

PS: That one scene with Rikido was inspired by review that was posted around a year ago. I can't find it now, but if you are the one who wrote it, please write either another review or PM me so I can properly thank you for that idea~

Also, warning for this chapter: Questionable morals as always, underage drinking.

 **Beta: OTrizy**

 _Quote: "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney_

* * *

I stared.  
He stared back.

I stared harder.  
He started to sweat.

I smiled.  
His eyes widened in fright.

"I am very sorry Madame, please don't kill me! I am only a low postman!" he cried out, throwing our mail at me and then promptly disappearing with a girlish scream.

"...Heh." I smirked in satisfaction and nodded. I really missed this town and my superb reputation here. It was truly a hard sacrifice for me when I had to stop traumatizing people once I moved. Grandma was very adamant about her rules; I could only traumatize as self-defense.

Whistling innocently, I snapped our front door shut and went back towards the living room. On the way, I started to sort out through our daily mail. Leaflet, Leaflet and oh! What do you see, another leaflet! Finally being all the way down to the last two mails, I read the returning address carefully. The smirk slipped from my face.

"Did something interesting arrive, Kou-chan?" called mom from the kitchen, her head appearing in the doorway a few seconds later. She frowned in concern when she saw my serious expression.

"Kou?"

"They came... the results."

"Oh! Oh... I see." She looked visibly excited, but made an effort to hold it back, "Want to open it alone or with me?" she forced our calmly, her focused stare never leaving the packets in my hands.

"Yeah... I think... first alone..." I answered, sending her a tense, but apologetic smile. I felt as if I needed to be alone for this. It's like one of those moments when one little piece of paper decides your whole future. And unlike my brother, I didn't try to enroll in any other high school than U.A.; it was all or nothing decision for me. Well, it's not like I would mind _too_ much if I dropped out of the school system now, but it would feel like I was giving up without even trying.

Going back to the second letter, I saw that there was also one for my brother. I bit my bottom lip as I thought back to the previous week.

After he arrived home from his exam (his ended hours later than mine, because there was the physical test as well), he headed right to our room without speaking anything to either of us and spent the remainder of the day there. I chose to crash in the living room and play games until he decided he felt up to the company. Eventually, he did come down for dinner, but it was a quiet affair... as were following meals for the rest of the week.

We managed to pry out of him some details about his exam, but in the end, one doesn't need to have a big imagination to deduce that it didn't go well.

"I am taking Izuku's letter too," I stated unnecessarily, dropping the useless part of today's mail on the dining table when I passed it on my way to our room.

Our room, huh. It really started to get kind of... cramped in there. I didn't realize it at first, because most of my things were still over at grandparents' house but we were teenagers and while Izuku was quite an orderly person, I... not so much. I was a messy person and knew it full well. My idea of cleaning stuff composed of pushing it into a closet and hoping that the _closet_ stays _closed_.

And while our room was of average size, it seemed smaller with all my stuff lying around - in systematic disarray of course. I could go on an hour-long lecture every day about how everything had its order and I _knew_ where everything was, _so don't you dare to clean it, dear brother of mine or so help me-_

I suppose it didn't help that over the years, Katsuki's stuff started to compile there as well...

It was a very tight squeeze, indeed. I was currently in the process of persuading mom to stop being so stubborn and take grandpa's offer so that we can start living with them already. They had a big house, we could all have our own rooms there! And no, I didn't want to go back, because I liked that town better. I just needed my space back. I got used to having a lot of space, okay?

Anyway, the only things holding us in _this town_ were Bakugos and memories. Well and this town was a little closer to U.A. Highschool, but that was... I looked down at two little packets lying innocently in my hands. Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door to our shared room.

Even if it was my room as well, there is no way that I would enter the room occupied by a fifteen years old boy without knocking. Experiencing teenage years in both lifetimes had taught me little stuff about things like these. And even if my brother wasn't your typical teenager, it was still better to be safe than sorry (read: traumatized), in her humble opinion.

Taking a deep breath and forming a crooked smile to hide my nervousness, I stepped inside. Izuku raised his head from the book he was reading on his bed and lifted his eyebrows in concern when he saw my tense face.

"It came," I lifted both letters so he could see the school's insignia stamped onto them. Instantly his slightly bored expression transformed into alarmed one and he jumped from his bed, nearly colliding with the bottom of the upper one.

Biting back a snort, I threw his letter at him. He caught it before it could collide with his chest and examined it with anxious eyes. He sent me a hesitant look after a few seconds, biting his lower lip as if he didn't know how to politely ask for me to get out. I nodded, my half-smile still persistently pasted on my face.

"I will be..." I took a few seconds to go through all available rooms in our house, „in mom's room." I finished lamely. Turning around, I went towards my chosen destination, clenching and unclenching my fingers around the leftover letter. After entering the room, I flopped on mom's bed.

With a frown, I took the letter in both hands and stretched it above me. I glared at the piece of white paper, feeling ridiculous that something so small like this was supposed to determine my worth and future. A sigh escaped me. Well, here goes nothing. I took it between my hands and tore it in half... tore it too thoroughly in fact. I took a moment to examine in stunned silence those two parts in my hands. Looking inside proved that the paper, the admission decision paper, was ripped in half too.

"Haa..." I face-palmed. Great. Grumbling about my own stupidity, I took both pieces and straightened them, placing them next to each other on the pillow.

..

...

...

"No fucking way." I stared dumbly at the black text.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAH" A scream sounded from the next room and I jerked in surprise and fell down from the bed. I didn't even groan as I met the ground, too confused about the whole situation. Looking around as I patted the blue carpet I was laying on, I could only think, _'I should tell mom to change her curtains. They are ugly.'_

"MOM? MOM! NEE-CHAN! I AM IN. I AM INNNNNN," my brother continued to scream in his room and then I heard a loud _*bang*_ and footsteps and them mom's loud "OH MY GOD" and then there was even more screaming. It was a mess.

 _'Huh.'_ My mind was in utter chaos as well, to accompany the current messiness of our household. Trying to make a reason out of my thoughts was futile endeavor; therefore I tried to restart it by blinking a few times. And then blinking some more. And then between two blinks, my brother was here, a sobbing and screaming mess shaking me passionately in his excitement.

 _"..."_ I am gonna be sick.

"I got in! I got in! I passed. They accepted me-" he continued to babble about, but thankfully stopped his shaking soon; instead, he pressed his snot-covered face into my blouse.

 _'Ugh.'_ I grimaced in disgust, the wet feeling finally making some order out of my tangled thoughts.

"Me... too?" I stated back uncertainly, still unsure if I read it right. There was a second of silence and then I was hugged so fiercely that I fake-groaned in reaction to the affection. There was no fight behind the sound, however, and soon I was patting my brother's curly head as he continued to happily babble something into my stomach. Then mom appeared, pressing both of us into her chest, squashing us against each other and crying about how proud she was.

 _'Maybe... maybe it's real after all...'_ I was taken back to the last time we hugged and cried like this when Izuku's future was still uncertain, but even so we were all determined to do everything in our power and go against all odds to make that future happen.

This, this was only a start, but... It was a very good start.

 _'Well… I certainly don't mind this kind of reality,_ ' I let few silent tears slid down my cheeks, a small smile appearing as I let myself drown in the affection. Just this once.

xXxXxXx

"OMG. YOU GOT IN TOO? THAT'S AWESOME!" I winced, pulling the phone as far away as possible, while still maintaining a distance that will allow me to be heard. God, _this girl_ and her _lungs_.

"Shheeesh, not so loud. You're gonna burst my eardrums."

"Pshhh. Your ears will be fine. But seriously! This is so awesome~ we're going to be in the same school again~." Thankfully, Mina listened and cut down her volume.

"In different departments and with several hundred other students," I deadpanned, rubbing my ears and wondering if there will be any permanent damage.

"Aawwww Kou! Don't be like that! We can visit each other during the breaks! And I am in class A just like your brother. I bet you will be named a honorary member of our class by the end of the semester with how often you will visit. Kekeke~."

I grunted unhappily. That was _true_.

"Don't be such a Tsun-Tsun Kou~. I _know_ you _love_ spending time with me," I snorted, "Shush you grumpy child. Now, did you hear? Ei-chan passed too! And he is in 1-A as well!" she sounded so excited of that fact, I rolled my eyes.

"No, I didn't. We didn't exchange our contact information, thankfully," I answered back dryly.

"Eeeh? But I gave him your number~."

"You did WHAT?!"

"Ehehehe... sorry. Something came up, gotta hang up now~."

"WAIT YOU LITTLE-"

Beep. Beep.

...

"She is _so_ gonna get it once I get my hands on her," I grumbled. Mina _knew_ how I felt about that boy's crush, I complained about it often enough. While Kirishima was quite a nice child, he was just that; a child. I was way too old mentally (even if I didn't behave like it half the time) to not be uncomfortable when I spotted signs of him fancying me. And I didn't do things like romance period. Ughhh.

Flopping onto our couch, I started to entertain the thought of changing my phone number... Okay nope, waaay too much hassle. Just thinking about having to come up with sound reason and then having to inform everyone that I have a new number made me instantly reject the idea. And knowing Mina, she would just give him my number again. Damn that annoying girl, why do I continue being friends with her anyway. She brings so much headache, she does.

My phone beeped, signaling that I received a message.

 _From: Annoying_girl  
_ _Sorry about giving him your number. I am gonna buy you a cake as an apology? So pleeeaaase don't kill me?_

... She knows me too well.

 _To: Annoying_girl  
_ _I'll think about it, depends how good that cake will be. I may only half-kill you._

 _From: Annoying_girl  
_ _Awwww. So cruel Kou~ I am just trying to be a supportive friend! You two are so cute together! I ship it!_

 _To: Annoying_girl  
_ _... Continue talking shit like this and not even cake will save you._

 _From: Annoying_girl  
_ _Roger. *salute*_

I rolled my eyes. On some days, it felt like that was all I ever did when it came to this girl. Huffing, I was about to close my phone and throw it on the table when another notice sound echoed through the silent room.

Mom was off to grocery shopping for today's celebratory feast and Izuku was visiting Katsuki; both boys were probably geeking about their favorite superheroes and about their would-be experiences at U.A. school. I very passionately refused to participate in such conversations. All I wanted from my new school was the calm and anti-social experience.

Unlocking my phone, I was about to prepare myself for another round of exasperating conversations, but my preparations were quickly stopped when I saw the name of the sender. Now I was curious.

 _From: Chizome  
Congrats._

"…"

I huffed. Would it have killed him to be more enthusiastic about it? Even I would have written something like: "Congrats. Let's celebrate it sometime." This was just sad. He was becoming even more socially awkward and antisocial than me, which wow, was a feat. Clearly, becoming an infamous hero killer didn't help his social skills any. I snorted.

"…" I have a feeling there was something wrong with my sense of humor. Eh. My head was always screwed on the wrong way.

However... I frowned. Thinking about his growing 'reputation' made me uneasy as well. He was getting more daring and reckless now, gaining recognition in the process. And that... it was never good to be too 'well-known', dangerous big-shots were starting to get curious. Chizome was good, but I doubt he was good enough to go toe to toe with Endeavor. If he surprised him and somehow got a little of his blood before the hero could 'flame-up', sure, however... I sighed.

These days I didn't saw Chizome a lot. I made him promise that he will call me at least once a week and text me occasionally, but he was getting more secretive and curt in his calls and messages.

I was a little worried, to be honest; he was that constant presence in my life, someone around who I didn't have to be careful or worry about sounding too bitter or afraid to voice my 'darker' thoughts. Sure, Mina was my best friend and she probably knew more about me than I was even aware of, but Chizome was... different kind of best friend. I didn't have to pretend and he didn't try to pry.

I looked down at my phone with thoughtful expression. It would be nice to remember good old days.

 _To: Chizome  
Thanks. Mind if I come round sometime this week? We can celebrate it along with your 'celebrity' status._

There, I made an effort, now it was up to him.

 _From: Chizome  
...Depends on what you have in mind. _

I smirked. Boooy, I have an idea you won't refuse.

 _To: Chizome  
Some good ol' ring fighting and then having a few drinks to commemorate the occasion?_

 _From: Chizome  
That sounds acceptable. _

Heh. I called it.

xXxXxXx

"This was a bad idea," I whined childishly as I woke up to the feeling of pounding headache and bruised body. And my back and neck were killing me. Where was I – Oh yea, I slept in the bathtub, that explains it. I groaned.

"It was your idea. Of course, it was bad," was an answering grumble. I slowly turned around and looked through the door at the slumped figure leaning against the kitchen counter. I chuckled weakly.

"You agreed," I fought back without any fight at all. God, but I hated hangovers. Small mercy that I was already in the bathroom. If I had a sudden urge to empty my stomach the toilet was few paces away and also... I zeroed my eyes on the cabinet above the sink. A medicine cabinet.

Heh. My drunk self sure knows where to crash for the night, though she could have chosen to sleep on that comfortable looking carpet and not in a cramped bath. Well, better to not look in a gift horse mouth, it could have been worse.

Another groan sounded, a quick glance confirmed that Chizome was still alive and now attempting to stand up. Well, that sounds like a good idea; those painkillers won't come to them on their own. Oh wait, they could. I smirked weakly, her quirk was useful like that.

...

"I hate you," was the first thing from the mouth of my dear friend once we were in his living room, painkillers and water evenly distributed between us.

"Come on, you little baby. It's not that bad _now_..." I answered faintly from my position of lying down on a carpet. The vertigo from before was finally absent. I decided to stay on this magical carpet all day today. I did inform mom that I will be absent for two days anyway.

"I remember drinking twice as much as you," he groused out, throwing one pillow from the pillow pile he was lying under on the couch in my direction... and missing by several centimeters. _Seriously_ , _this_ was supposed to be THE hero killer?

"That's your own fault," I pointed out with barely concealed amusement. But this pillow sure looked comfortable... I snatched it from the ground and put it under my head. Ahhh, better.

"You encouraged it!"

"Excuses. Excuses. You are grown up man; you should know your limits." I hummed out as I reached towards the packet of crackers.. I hated those things so much, but they were good for queasy stomach.

Eat and then sleep. That was today's plan. Sounds perfect.

"I still hate you."

"Heh. Heh. Then I am doing my job right."

...

"Well, this was completely worthless and unproductive two days," Chizome remarked that night from where he was sitting cross-legged on his bed. However, as opposed to his words, he looked more relaxed and comfortable than he did two days ago.

"Stop trying to lie to yourself. We both know you enjoyed those free days..." Waving in his general direction uninterestedly, I continued to shuffle through piles of papers on his desk. Then I stopped and added; "Well, the first day at least. The day after is always kind of shitty."

He grumbled but didn't disagree. There was comfortable silence for a bit, only disturbed be an occasional sipping sound. This new brand of strawberry juice sure tasted nice.

"...Why are you going through my 'second job' notes, exactly?"

"I am curious. You never talk about 'hero-killer' business with me anymore."

"It's dangerous to talk where someone can overhear and phones and computers can be cracked into. I don't want to leave any evidence leaving around."

"Yeah, sure. That's why you have all of these" she pointed to his messy table, "just lying around in your apartment?"

"That's different," he frowned, "I don't want to leave any loose ends that would cause that my activities would be traced back to you."

I paused minutely and carefully didn't look back at Chizome. He would see my smile that way and then my tough reputation will be in shambles. But seriously, that was kind of sweet. I always knew Chizome was big softy inside, but it was nice to have proof once in the while.

"Well thank you then. But there is something I actually wanted to discuss with you, now that we are alone." I swirled around in his chair and looked at him intently. There was a second reason I wanted to meet up after all, the fun was all well and good, but it was time to get serious.

"You should tone your activities down a bit."

"What?" he scowled.

"Tone, it, down. You are getting too much attention way too quickly. I don't want you to get yourself imprisoned or killed, because you overestimated your capabilities." I continued in the same flat tone, not getting intimidated in the least by his ferocious scowl.

"You... that's none of your business. I didn't tell you about my second job for you to dictate what I should or shouldn't do."

"For god's sake... I am not dictating anything, you arse! I am just worried about you."

"Well, there is nothing to worry about. I have everything handled."

I sighed... sometimes... sometimes I wanted to kick him in the balls again. But let's keep that option open for when things get really bad.

"Haaa. Okay. I'll let it slide, for now, I don't want to argue today. But, this conversation is not over, just-" I saw him open his mouth to dissent my words with eyes ablaze, so I quickly finished my sentence, "just try to be careful, okay?"

He snapped his mouth shut and glowered at me with knitted brows. I waited until he processed my words, my eyes set into my own impressive glare.

"... Sure." He mumbled in the end, deciding that there was nothing he could find wrong with my words. It was true that I was only worried after all and he can't deny that my fears weren't unfound.

"Thanks," I smirked. For now, this will be enough.

After all, it will take some time until he realizes that I stole some of his data and notes on several strong and well-known heroes. And when he does... well I would have already burned those, so he would have to start from the... well, start.

Heh. Never underestimate a determined woman.

xXxXxXx

 _*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*_

 _'Oh for fuck's sake, I hate that damn alarm clock.'_ I thought as I did my best impression of bird Emu, but instead of sticking my head into the ground, I stuck it under my pillow.

"Yes! Time to wake up! Time to wake uppppp, nee-chaaan!" My brother was as always full of energy. I just muffled sad whale sounds into my mattress. It felt too early, it has to be too early. _No_ way, that it was already time to wake up.

"Get up, nee-chan. Get up! We only have three hours until our first class starts. Gosh, I am so excited!"

... three... hours...? Why... I never should have let Izuku set the timer for our alarm clock.

"..."

Whatever, I will just pretend to be dead and hopefully I will be believable enough corpse that they'll let me rot in peace.

There was a poking sensation on my side. I took a deep breath and-

"Common! We need to double-check if we have everything for today and also we both have to spend a long time in the bathroom to look presentable and also mom is already in the kitchen and I don't want her food to go to waste. And oh my god, what should I wear? Oh wait we have to wear our uniforms, but still what about boots-"

\- and then I just gave up. There was no stopping my brother when he was in one of these moods.

...

"Do you have everything? What about tissues, oh my god, do you both have your own tissues?"

"Yes, mom," we dutifully answered as one.

"What about your hanky? You can't leave without-" I stood up from my crouched position and walked over to my mother, having to bend down a little to kiss her on the cheek. We were both taller than her now.

"Don't worry mom. We have all we need. But we also need to hurry up or Katsuki will burn down the whole flat because of how bored he got while waiting for us." I smirked at her and patted her shoulder, deciding to wait outside with Katsuki and give Izuku and mom their own moment as well.

I opened the door and-

"Finally! What the fuck took you so long you freaky witch!" I twisted my mouth in amusement at his choice of words. He stopped calling me hag week ago, saying that now that we were high schoolers and as the clearly more mature one, he would be gracious enough to stop with that childish nickname... it took exactly three hours before the dam broke and we were back to antagonizing each other. But as a show of his newly gained wisdom, he decided to change my 'nickname'. Whatever, I found it pretty hilarious.

"Now... don't be a vulgar shorty. It's too damn early for it." I chided with my voice all sage-like.

"...Are you hearing yourself?" I snorted and then counted down in my head. Three, Two, One...

"AND I AM NOT SHORT. I AM TALLER THAN YOU BY FIVE CENTIMETERS NOW. STOP CALLING ME THAT."

"But you always have the best reactions..." I smirked in satisfaction.

"YOU-"

"Now, please, don't fight children," piped Izuku up as he closed the door behind him.

"Sure." I chirped and took my brother's hand, swinging it around as we made our way towards public transportation (I agreed to use it for our first day instead of my motorbike, because Izuku was _pouting_ ), both of us ignoring Katsuki's angry mutters behind us.

So far, except for that way too early wake up, today was looking good.

...

"Wow, but damn. This door is huuuuge," I whistled as I sized up the door with big "1-A" on them. I decided to accompany those two to their class and chat a bit with them and Mina before I have to leave for my 1-H classroom. Thanks to our early departure, we still had half an hour to spare, after all.

I turned around to face my boys who were looking at each other, having a battle of wills for who will have the dubious pleasure of opening the door. Unsurprisingly, in next second it was Katsuki who aggressively stomped towards the door, Izuku releasing a relieved sigh as he shuffled after his best friend. I followed after them with an amused expression.

The room was surprisingly half-empty, did everyone decided to sleep in today? Ha... I am jealous.

"Ah! You are- Nice to meet you, I am Iida Tenya from Soumei!" suddenly some black-haired guy with glasses approached my brother with a determined expression on his face and hand outstretched. My brother nervously introduced himself back and I was about to inconspicuously listen to their conversation when-

"KOUUUUUU!" - a scream nearly destroyed my eardrums. Again. I sighed and took a wider stance with my legs, fully preparing myself for the frontal assault. Which was a very good precaution, because second later, a body slammed into mine and limbs wrapped around my torso like a very lively octopus.

"Mina... nice… to see you... again." My words were barely audible thanks to the tight grip on my stomach.

 _'I am getting way too old for this,"_ I lamented inside my head.

"My bestieeeee! It's soooo long since I saw you! And you weren't calling me at all! You meanie! Did you already forget all about our epic bromance?! Are you not aware that you will not escape my clutches so easily-"

"We saw each other a week ago and we are calling every day," I stated dryly. However, my worlds were totally ignored as the girl continued to babble about total nonsense... don't tell me her mother allowed her to have _the coffee_ on her first day of school. She did, didn't she? I groaned lowly.

"- and thus our bromance shall, wait, is it called bromance if it's between girls? Should it be something like sister... sis ...sismance? Sistemance? Ugh. That sounds horrible. Izu-kun! You are the one with brains, help me out!" Mina placed her hands on Izuku's shoulders, her face full of intense seriousness.

My brother looked terrified at being called out like that. He stammered something indecipherable and looked wildly around for help.

He got nothing in return for his troubles. Katsuki was already sitting at the nearest table he found and pretending to sleep, the glasses guy looked fairly uncomfortable with the situation, probably because he couldn't comprehend it at all. And me?

Well as a very overprotective sister of the said male in distress, I decided to... slowly and inconspicuously make my escape. _No way_ was I dealing with Mina when the girl was doped on coffee.

"Kou!" This time I groaned _loudly._ Can't a girl sneak out of her brother's classroom peacefully without meeting any other familiar faces? _Seriously._ I should have just continued my corpse performance; maybe if I was really serious about it, then my brother would have given up on me after some time...

"Kirishima..." I pulled on my 'trying to be polite even if I really, really don't want to be' face as I turned around to face the boy. I was momentarily blindsided by the mane of wild red hair. I blinked. And then blinked some more.

"I told you to call me, Ei! Anyway, do you like my new hair? I tried to go for something that will make me unforgettable, haha..."

"Well. It's certainly eye-catching," I said flatly, my eyebrows coming down from where they hid in my fringe in my monetary surprise.

"Eh. You think so? I am glad you like it!" he gushed and his blush was once again present.

 _'Ah... I didn't say I like it though,_ ' I thought in despair. Every time I saw this guy's blushing face, I felt like a cradle robber. But I didn't have any intention to pursue any romantic relationship with him, so I should be safe from that kind of guilt... right? Hahaha...

"So how was your holiday? I heard from Mina that you got accepted into this school too and I was so excited! It's just a pity that we won't be in the same class because-" I let his ramble wash over me as I tried to think of a good excuse to get the hell out of this classroom. And fast.

"-but we can still have lunch together as we did in junior high and-"

Haahh... _why_ did she chose this school again?

"Kou! Kou! Izu-kun said that the best term is womance! That's so cool, ain't it?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that this term is academically correct." The glasses guy.

"Ah, I think that Mina-chan doesn't care at this point Iida-san..." Izuku.

"..." Katsuki was still pretending to sleep.

... haha. I don't know anymore. Is it too late to take my application back? Certainly, there has to be some poor soul who didn't get in and would happily trade his/her place with me. I was about to have another decision crisis when-

"Um. Do you want some sweets?"...did I hear that right?

I turned around aggressively and looked towards the savior who approached our group in my darkest moments.

"Sweets?" I said with poorly hidden enthusiasm. From Katsuki's snort, it was indeed very poorly hidden.

"Uh, yes. I baked some yesterday for when I meet my new classmates. Hopefully, it's good." The tall boy looked surprised by my sudden attention but took it in stride as he stretched a box filled with delicious looking sweets towards me.

"Oh..." I released sadly, "I am actually not from 1-A but from 1-H... so not your classmate..." I trailed off. The guy's square-shaped eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah. I guess I should probably go out and meet my new classmates and all. Yeah I should go..." gosh this was kind of mortifying, but I was really, really looking forward to eating something sweet.

"Um, but I don't mind if you eat some? I mean, even if you are from a different class, you are still a first-year student like us, so we will see each other a lot. And I don't mind making friends with people from different departments. The more, the merrier, right?" he chuckled, his hand still stretched awkwardly. I smiled widely and suddenly he looked kind of frightened. I paid it no mind, already used to such reactions.

"Then if you don't mind..." I took one and carefully nipped on it.

Silence. I stood tensely in silence, my smile slipping from my face. The guy was now sweating bullets as he waited anxiously for my verdict.

I took a deep breath and then slowly stretched my hands towards the muscular boy. He tensed but didn't move as I carefully placed both of my limbs upon the hand holding the box of those heavenly sugary joys.

My gaze never left the box and its content even as I addressed the one who made them.

"Please. Marry me."

...

I was gently but resolutely rejected on the account that while he was greatly honored, we were still too young to think of marriage. I wasn't heartbroken for long however, as he assured me that I can still enjoy his baking whenever he made something, as his friend.

I've very much conceded, making him to promptly drop suffix and just call me Kou. He fumbled for a bit at that, clearly unused to such direct approach, but I ignored his flustered babbling as I continued to slowly but surely diminish the content of his box.

Sadly, I had to soon say goodbye to those heavenly goods and to my new friend Rikido because the start of the first lesson was nearing. I suppose that it would be seen as polite if I entered the classroom before our new homeroom teacher... not that I've ever cared about being polite, but hey, I was getting better.

A few minutes later, I was happily munching on another sugary joy as I happily skipped out of 1-A class, waving at my friends and brother and promising that we will see each other during lunch break.

Rikido waved back with a confused smile, Kirishima looked crestfallen, Mina was cackling madly beside him, Katsuki was truly fast asleep and snoring and Izuku was alternating between patting the redhead's back in consolation and throwing concerned gazes at the pinkette.

All in all, it felt like a successful retreat, now to survive meeting her new classmates.

* * *

So thats the end.

I know that it feels kinda short, especially after my hiatus, but I thought, better at least something than nothing at all, right? And its not pure AN, so thats also something admirable, right? Haha...

In next chapter I plan to go over the first week, the 'infiltration' of the 'handy man', heh, and then broach the start of U.S.J. arc. The actual USJ arc will be in chapter 17 sadly and don't worry, I plan for Kou to have some kind of role in it, not like I did with slime villain in last chapter.

I am not promising anything when it comes to next update, it can happen this month, it can happen next... I really don't know how much free time I will have this year, but I am not abandoning this baby. This fic is important to me and I do enjoy writing it, it just takes a long time for me to actually sit down and write.

 _Now for my promised explanation concerning 'hiatus':  
_ Yeah, so there were stuff happening all the time. First, at the start of the last year, the lessor of the house we were living in, just knocked on our door and told us: "Haha, I am sorry but I need this house for my daughter so if you would please get out.". Lol. Charming man that. Anyway so, as my parents aren't at home most of time, it was up to me to search for new housing, kinda hard because we have cat and usually animals aren't allowed. I was not in the mood for writing during that time I guess.  
Then after few weeks I finally found something thus we moved... and right then exams started. We had those exams for several weeks, and I finally started to realize I may have chosen a wrong major and also overestimated myself. Biochemistry is clearly too hard for me, but hey, I hate disappointing people and I didn't want to make mom sad if i quit, so I stayed... I hate myself now because oh my god what I am even doing in this university.  
But let's not digress, I somehow survived exams, but then I had to start part-time working because I promised my parents I start working after I finish my first year. Which took a big part of my free time, as you can imagine.  
That's kinda all. I mean i had my moments of depression and doubting myself where I just wanted to take this work down (if someone noticed I already took one of my works down) and quit writing because I felt really incompetent.  
And of course even when I _had_ some free time I spent it either reading, sleeping or writing down ideas for fics that I am probably never gonna write, heh.

I don't know if my 'excuses' are good enough for my year long hiatus, but in the end, writing is supposed to be something we do as an 'hobby' and something we also shouldn't take too seriously if we don't feel like doing it, so I guess...


End file.
